Mar 16, 2021, 01:36 am
American diplomats actively persuaded the Brazilian government not to approve a Russian-made coronavirus vaccine, as part of a campaign to counter the country’s “malign influence,” Washington has revealed in a bombshell admission.
On Monday, Russia’s Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which financed the development of the Sputnik V jab, published an excerpt that recently came to light from the annual report of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which is responsible for healthcare and access to medicines.
As part of the self-appraisal of the department’s successes in 2020, it confirmed that its international team, the Office of Global Affairs (OGA), “used diplomatic relations in the Americas region to mitigate efforts by states, including Cuba, Venezuela, and Russia, who are working to increase their influence in the region to the detriment of US safety and security.”
These efforts, it said, culminated in “using OGA’s Health Attaché office to persuade Brazil to reject the Russian COVID-19 vaccine.” How the use of the jab, which has already been approved by 51 countries across the world, would have been to the detriment of Americans’ safety and security is not detailed. The section comes immediately after a section on meeting one of the agency’s key objectives – “promoting vaccine confidence and access.”
Sharing the excerpt, the team behind the jab, developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute, which previously worked on vaccines against Ebola and other infectious diseases, said that “we believe countries should work together to save lives. Efforts to undermine the vaccines are unethical and are costing lives.”
In January, the RDIF was forced to deny reports that Brazil had outright rejected its formula for use in its national immunization program. Reportedly, a partner company’s application had failed to meet “minimum requirements for submission and analysis.” Then, a month later, health authorities gave a green light for Phase III trials of the formula to go ahead.
Since the start of the pandemic over a year ago, there have been more than 11 million confirmed cases of the virus in Brazil, and 278,000 people are estimated to have lost their lives in connection with COVID-19 there.
https://www.rt.com/russia/518153-brazil-...rejection/
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Related News:
Reported: March 14
Brazil documents record-high number of weekly COVID-19 cases
Brazil has confirmed 500,722 COVID-19 cases in the past week, and the weekly death toll has hit 12,777. Both of these are record-high figures since the start of the pandemic in the country, the data published by the Brazilian Health Ministry on Sunday informs.
In the past 24 hours, 43,812 cases of COVID-19 have been documented in the country, along with 1,127 deaths. The overall COVID-19 case count in Brazil has reached 11,483,370, and the death toll has hit 278,229. Over 10 mln people have recovered. There are over 1.1 mln active cases of the disease in the country. There are 5,464 cases of infection and 132 deaths per 100,000 residents.
Brazil documented its first case of COVID-19 on February 26, 2020. On March 12, 2021, the country once again became second after the US on the coronavirus case count, surpassing India. It ranks second in the world on COVID-19 deaths after the US as well.
https://tass.com/society/1265861
On Monday, Russia’s Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which financed the development of the Sputnik V jab, published an excerpt that recently came to light from the annual report of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which is responsible for healthcare and access to medicines.
As part of the self-appraisal of the department’s successes in 2020, it confirmed that its international team, the Office of Global Affairs (OGA), “used diplomatic relations in the Americas region to mitigate efforts by states, including Cuba, Venezuela, and Russia, who are working to increase their influence in the region to the detriment of US safety and security.”
These efforts, it said, culminated in “using OGA’s Health Attaché office to persuade Brazil to reject the Russian COVID-19 vaccine.” How the use of the jab, which has already been approved by 51 countries across the world, would have been to the detriment of Americans’ safety and security is not detailed. The section comes immediately after a section on meeting one of the agency’s key objectives – “promoting vaccine confidence and access.”
Sharing the excerpt, the team behind the jab, developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute, which previously worked on vaccines against Ebola and other infectious diseases, said that “we believe countries should work together to save lives. Efforts to undermine the vaccines are unethical and are costing lives.”
In January, the RDIF was forced to deny reports that Brazil had outright rejected its formula for use in its national immunization program. Reportedly, a partner company’s application had failed to meet “minimum requirements for submission and analysis.” Then, a month later, health authorities gave a green light for Phase III trials of the formula to go ahead.
Since the start of the pandemic over a year ago, there have been more than 11 million confirmed cases of the virus in Brazil, and 278,000 people are estimated to have lost their lives in connection with COVID-19 there.
Quote:Speaking at a press conference at the end of last year, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was asked whether 2021 would see a “vaccine war” between Russia and other countries working to roll out their jabs. In response, he claimed that “Western states are trying not only to politicize the humanitarian theme of the fight against coronavirus infections, but also to take advantage of the pandemic to punish governments they don't like.”
https://www.rt.com/russia/518153-brazil-...rejection/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Related News:
Reported: March 14
Brazil documents record-high number of weekly COVID-19 cases
Brazil has confirmed 500,722 COVID-19 cases in the past week, and the weekly death toll has hit 12,777. Both of these are record-high figures since the start of the pandemic in the country, the data published by the Brazilian Health Ministry on Sunday informs.
In the past 24 hours, 43,812 cases of COVID-19 have been documented in the country, along with 1,127 deaths. The overall COVID-19 case count in Brazil has reached 11,483,370, and the death toll has hit 278,229. Over 10 mln people have recovered. There are over 1.1 mln active cases of the disease in the country. There are 5,464 cases of infection and 132 deaths per 100,000 residents.
Brazil documented its first case of COVID-19 on February 26, 2020. On March 12, 2021, the country once again became second after the US on the coronavirus case count, surpassing India. It ranks second in the world on COVID-19 deaths after the US as well.
https://tass.com/society/1265861