The designers of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V threatened Thursday to sue for defamation the Brazilian regulator Anvisa, who refused to approve it and claimed that the vaccine carried an active version of a virus.
Read also: Brazil: the regulator opposes the import of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V
"
Sputnik V is starting libel action in Brazil against Anvisa for intentionally disseminating false and inaccurate information,
" the developers of the Russian vaccine said on Twitter. "
Anvisa made incorrect and misleading statements without having tested the Sputnik V vaccine," Sputnik V
said, adding to the Brazilian regulator's address that "
our legal team will contact you
". Sputnik quotes statements from Gustavo Mendes, a senior Anvisa official who allegedly claimed that the Brazilian agency "
has not received samples of the vaccine to test [and] has not tested
". Sputnik V does not, however, give a source for these statements. The Brazilian health agency opposed on Monday the request of several states in the country to import Sputnik V, believing it to lack data to ensure its safety and effectiveness.
The management of the agency followed the recommendation of its experts noting "
uncertainties
" about the vaccine, which has still not been approved by the health agencies of the European Union (EMA) and the United States (FDA) . In an online presentation, scientists from Anvisa reported that testing of samples from the second dose of Sputnik V revealed that the adenovirus was "
capable of replication
", so it was still able to grow. multiply when injected into the body. They had estimated that this situation was probably due to a manufacturing anomaly called "
recombination.
», During which the modified adenovirus reacquired the genes necessary for its replication when it was cultivated in the laboratory in artificial human cells. They indicated that they had only tested the second dose of the vaccine. The designers of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V against the coronavirus had denounced a decision "
of a political nature
".
