The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund) announces the decision of the National Health Surveillance Agency of Brazil (ANVISA) to grant a license for import and use of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against coronavirus by several states of the country.

Brazil has become the 67th country where Sputnik V is authorized for use. Total population of these countries exceeds 3.4 billion people. Sputnik V ranks second among coronavirus vaccines globally in terms of the number of approvals issued by government regulators.

The vaccine was authorized for import and use by Brazilian states after ANVISA considered the technical report provided by Russia’s Health Ministry. Additional data has been provided to ANVISA by the Russian side confirming that replication-competent adenoviral vectors (RCA) had not been detected. Also real-life data obtained in a number of countries using Sputnik V confirms vaccine’s high efficacy and safety.

Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund,said:

The decision by ANVISA to authorize the import and use of Sputnik V by states in Brazil is a long-awaited event for people in Brazil who will obtain access to one of the best COVID vaccines in the world. While a comprehensive data package had been sent to ANVISA initially, no questions raised by the regulators were left unanswered after its decision to delay the authorization of Sputnik V. The Russian side provided all additional data. With the approval of the vaccine in several states Brazil will become the most populated country of South America to use the Russian vaccine. We are looking forward to further effective cooperation with partners in the country to save lives and overcome the pandemic.

Sputnik V has a number of key advantages:

• Efficacy of Sputnik V is 97.6% based on the analysis of data on the coronavirus infection rate among those in Russia vaccinated with both components of Sputnik V from December 5, 2020 to March 31, 2021;
• The Sputnik V vaccine is based on a proven and well-studied platform of human adenoviral vectors, which cause the common cold and have been around for thousands of years.
• Sputnik V uses two different vectors for the two shots in a course of vaccination, providing immunity with a longer duration than vaccines using the same delivery mechanism for both shots.
• The safety, efficacy and lack of negative long-term effects of adenoviral vaccines have been proven by more than 250 clinical studies over two decades.
• There are no strong allergies caused by Sputnik V.
• The storage temperature of Sputnik V at +2+8 C means it can be stored in a conventional refrigerator without any need to invest in additional cold-chain infrastructure.
• The price of Sputnik V is less than $10 per shot, making it affordable around the world.