Anvisa, Brazil’s federal health authority has temporarily suspended the use of 12 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine. It is known that some of the vaccines were produced in unauthorized factories. Those 12 million doses of the vaccine consisting of 25 batches.
Butantan Institute, a medical center in partnership with Sinovac, alerted Anvisa on Friday about this. This warning was given by the Butantan Institute which is in charge of overseeing the use of vaccines.
“The ban is a precautionary measure to avoid exposing the population to possible imminent risks,”
The suspension was in place for 90 days. During that time, Anvisa will carry out supervision and inspection at the manufacturing plant site.
Quoted from CNBC Indonesia, Butantan also warned Anvisa that another 17 batches, or the equivalent of 9 million doses, were also produced at the same factory. It is known that the doses are currently on their way to Brazil.
It is not yet certain what risks arise in the total dose of the Sinovac vaccine. For this reason, further investigation needs to be carried out.
Still quoted from CNBC Indonesia, Brazil had previously suspended the vaccine. The use of the AstraZeneca vaccine was suspended for pregnant women after reports of deaths following the vaccine injection in May.
Sinovac was approved for use in January after the vaccine’s threshold for potency was 50.4%. For this reason, the Sinovac vaccine is widely used in Brazil.
