President Jair Bolsonaro (no party) phoned Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the purchase and production in Brazil of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine.
In a video released after the conversation, Bolsonaro appears wearing a mask and says that it is necessary to "solve some obstacles" in Brazil for the release of the vaccine.
On March 27, Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency) reported that it had stopped analyzing the request for emergency use of the Russian vaccine due to the lack of data required for the evaluation.
"One of the most important issues that we deal with here is the possibility that we will receive the Sputnik vaccine from that country," said Bolsonaro. "Logically, we still depend on solving some obstacles here in Brazil. We are finalizing contact with the other authorities, including Anvisa, on how we can effectively import this vaccine," said the president.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon