Society

Brazil waives bidding and buys Covaxin and Sputnik V to speed up the vaccination program

The purchase of the two immunizers and supplies for vaccination is expected to cost BRL 2.3 billion

20.Feb.2021 17:45 BRT
UPDATED 19:08 BRT

Brazilian Ministry of Health decided not to bid for the purchase of vaccines Covaxin, produced in India, and Sputnik V, from Russia.

With the measure, the government expects to make 10 million doses of Sputnik V and 20 million of Covaxin available to the population, with an estimated investment of BRL 639.6 million in the Russian vaccine and BRL 1.614 billion in the Indian vaccine.

Although the acquisition of the two vaccines has been cleared from bidding, Covaxin and Sputnik have not yet been authorized for use by Brazilian health regulator Anvisa, which means that even if they are acquired by the federal government, they can only be applied to the population after Anvisa’s authorization.

Also on Friday, the Ministry of Health announced that it will no longer reserve half of the vaccines for the second dose – that was the original plan.

This measure aims to prevent vaccination from being suspended – as has already happened in some Brazilian cities. According to the authorities, the country will receive enough doses and will not need to keep vaccines for the second round.