Brazil Contradicts Bharat Biotech Claim On Emergency Approval For Covaxin

On Friday, Brazil's Supreme Court authorized an investigation of President Jair Bolsonaro by the federal prosecutor for dereliction of duty - an impeachable charge - in the process of procuring a COVID-19 vaccine

Controversy over a $324 million deal between Brazil and Bharat Biotech - for the import of 20 million doses of the 'made-in-India' COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin - continues to grow, with reports from the South American country saying its national health regulatory authority - ANVISA - had never actually granted the Hyderabad-based manufacturer an EUA (emergency use application). Last week Bharat Biotech emphatically denied any wrongdoing on its part; the Hyderabad-based company said it had followed a "step-by-step" approach, and that: "EUA (was) received on June 4". However, hours after the company issued that statement, ANVISA "suspended the deadline for evaluating the application for emergency use... of Covaxin". The agency said the suspension - which put the EUA application on ice - was due to missing data from the vaccine's clinical trials. ANIVSA stressed the difference between the EUA application - which it said it received on June 29 - and a June 4 notice authorising import of Covaxin under "controlled conditions".