"On March 30, Russian Ambassador Alexey Labetskiy visited Bthek Biotecnologia, where a pilot batch of Sputnik V vaccine components has just been manufactured and will be sent to Moscow for certification and verification, including at the Gamaleya Institute," the embassy wrote on Facebook late on Tuesday.
The Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency (Anvisa) refused to grant Uniao Quimica authorisation for the emergency use of the Russian vaccine in January. In February, after Anvisa approved a new protocol that simplifies the issuance of authorisation for the emergency use of drugs tested abroad, the drug maker resubmitted the application jointly with the RDIF.
Brazil has so far greenlighted three coronavirus vaccines — those developed by Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Sinovac.