BRASILIA: Brazil’s health regulator said Thursday its decision to reject the Russian-made Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine was based on the developer’s own data, after the latter threatened to sue for defamation.
Brazilian regulators’ decision Monday to deny emergency use authorization for the vaccine has blown up into an all-out international row, with Sputnik V’s makers accusing them of “knowingly spreading false and inaccurate information” without testing the vaccine themselves.
The Brazilian agency, Anvisa, based the decision on evidence the vaccine carried a live version of adenovirus, a common cold-causing virus.
It fired back defensively in a press conference that it had drawn that conclusion from information “submitted by the Sputnik V vaccine developer itself.”
“Anvisa was accused of lying, of acting unethically, of disseminating fake news about replicating adenovirus,” said the agency’s director, Antonio Barra Torres.
“We refute this grave accusation.”
The spat came three days after Anvisa announced it had denied a request from several states to import Sputnik V, saying its experts had flagged “uncertainties” about the jab.
The Brazilian government, which is struggling to secure enough vaccines for the hard-hit country’s 212 million people, had been negotiating the purchase of 30 million Sputnik doses.
The vaccine’s developers said Tuesday the decision was politically motivated, then upped their response Thursday.
“Sputnik V is undertaking a legal defamation proceeding in Brazil against Anvisa,” the developer said on the official Sputnik V Twitter account.
“Anvisa made incorrect and misleading statements without having tested the actual Sputnik V vaccine.”
The issue centers around an “adenovirus vector” — a virus that normally causes mild respiratory illness but in vaccines is genetically modified so that it cannot replicate, and edited to carry the DNA instructions for human cells to develop the spike protein of the virus that causes Covid-19.
This in turn trains the human system to be prepared in case it encounters the real coronavirus.
The Sputnik V vaccine uses two different adenovirus vectors to accomplish this task, administered in two shots.
According to a slideshow presented by Anvisa regulators, the agency determined that the booster shot was “replication competent” — meaning that once inside the body, the adenovirus can continue to multiply.
They added that this had likely occurred because of a manufacturing problem.
The Russian vaccine has been approved for use in at least 60 countries, including more than 10 in Latin America.
But it has not yet been approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) or the United States’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Some Western countries have been wary of Sputnik V — named after the Soviet-era satellite — over concerns the Kremlin would use it as a soft-power tool to advance its interests.
Moscow registered the jab in August before large-scale clinical trials, but leading medical journal The Lancet has since said it is safe and more than 90 percent effective.
Russia-Brazil spat erupts over Sputnik vaccine snub
https://arab.news/64c3k
Russia-Brazil spat erupts over Sputnik vaccine snub
- Sputnik V’s makers accused Brazil's health regulator Anvisa of spreading false information about the vaccine
- Anvisa says it had denied requests to import Sputnik V, saying its experts had flagged “uncertainties” about the jab
Indonesia’s first woman president awarded honorary doctorate by Princess Nourah University
- Megawati was recognized for her leadership and contributions to social, legal affairs
- She has received 10 other honorary degrees from Indonesian and foreign institutions
JAKARTA: Megawati Sukarnoputri, who served as Indonesia’s fifth president and was the country’s only female head of state to date, has been awarded an honorary doctorate by Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University in Riyadh, becoming the first foreign national to receive the title.
Megawati, the eldest daughter of Indonesia’s first President Sukarno and chairwoman of the country’s largest political party, the PDIP, served as president from 2001 to 2004.
The 79-year-old was awarded an honorary doctorate in organizational and legal affairs in Riyadh on Monday during a ceremony overseen by Princess Nourah University’s acting president, Dr. Fawzia bint Sulaiman Al-Amro.
“This recognition was given in appreciation of her efforts during her presidency, her significant contributions to social, organizational, and legal fields, and her role in strengthening institutional leadership in Indonesia,” the university said in a statement.
This is Megawati’s 11th honorary doctorate. She has received similar degrees from Indonesian and foreign universities, including the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in 2003 and the Soka University of Japan in 2020.
She has also been awarded the title of honorary professor by several institutions, including by the Seoul Institute of the Arts in 2022.
“We gather at the Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, a university that stands as a symbol of women’s progress in education, knowledge and public service … To see so many intelligent women, I feel very proud,” Megawati said in her acceptance speech.
“Women’s empowerment is not a threat to any values, culture or tradition. It is actually a condition for nations that believe in their future … A great nation is one that is able to harness all of its human potential. A strong nation is one that does not allow half of its social power to be left on the sidelines of history.”
Megawati is the longest-serving political leader in Indonesia. Indonesia’s first direct presidential elections took place during her presidency, consolidating the country’s transition to democracy after the downfall of its longtime dictator Suharto in 1998.
