South America

SAO PAULO, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's Health Regulatory Agency (Anvisa) unanimously approved on Sunday the emergency use of the CoronaVac vaccine, from the Chinese laboratory Sinovac, as well as the AstraZeneca-University of Oxford vaccine against COVID-19.

The decision will allow the Brazilian government to start its vaccination plan against COVID-19 with 6 million doses of the CoronaVac vaccine, developed by Sinovac in conjunction with the Butantan Institute of Sao Paulo.

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil’s health regulator is seeking further data on Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine before considering its approval for emergency use.

Documents supporting drugmaker Uniao Quimica’s application for emergency use of the vaccine have been returned to the company because they did not meet its minimum criteria, the watchdog said on Saturday.

In a statement on the Health Ministry’s website, regulator Anvisa said the request failed to provide adequate assurances on Phase III clinical trials and issues related to the manufacture of the vaccine.

CARACAS, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Venezuelan government rejected a recent decision by a U.S. judge, which authorized the sale of shares of Citgo, a subsidiary of state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), calling it "procedural fraud."

"Venezuela denounces and deeply rejects the actions of the government of Donald Trump, in complicity with a stronghold of Venezuelan extremists who, acting in collusion, have committed transnational crimes in order to appropriate assets from Venezuela and its entities throughout the world," the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

RIO DE JANEIRO, January 16. /TASS/: Brazil’s pharmaceutical company Uniao Quimica and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) submitted an application on Friday to the Brazilian national sanitary watchdog Anvisa for permit to urgently use the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus, the company said in a statement.

SAO PAULO (AP) — Hospital staff and relatives of COVID-19 patients rushed to provide facilities with oxygen tanks just flown into the Amazon rainforest’s biggest city as doctors chose which patients would breathe amid dwindling stocks and an effort to airlift some of them to other states.

LA PAZ, Jan 14 (NNN-Prensa Latina) — Bolivia Wednesday signed a contract with India’s Serum Institute to purchase five million doses of AstraZeneka vaccine to combat Covid-19, according to President Luis Arce.

The President stated that with the previous purchase of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V and now with the AstraZeneca vaccine, the entire population of the country will be able to be immunised.

BOGOTA, January 11. /TASS/: The latest developments in the United States show that American society is sorely divided, with the country on the brink of a civil war, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said during a speech in Caracas Sunday.

"The United States is in a crisis. Joe Biden’s term as president will start under the worst scenario which includes hostile polarization, a split, animosity and confrontation. Virtually on the verge of a civil war," he noted.

BOGOTA, January 11. /TASS/: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has stressed that his US counterpart Donald Trump sought to destroy Venezuela and kill Maduro himself during his presidency.

"Donald Trump’s main goal during [his] four years in power was Venezuela, to destroy us and me. He advocated assassinating me a couple of times," Maduro said during a speech in Caracas.

The leader believes that Trump symbolizes "sheer hatred, violence and aggression in global politics."

RIO DE JANEIRO, January 9. /TASS/: The Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency (Anvisa) requested additional information on Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine. This is according to a statement on agency's website, which was published on Friday.

Earlier, the Uniao Quimica pharmaceutical company, which is a partner of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), applied for permission to conduct the third phase of clinical trials of the vaccine in the country.

RIO DE JANEIRO, January 9. /TASS/: Brazil’s national sanitary watchdog Anvisa reported a "serious side incident" during the national phase of clinical trials of the Janssen-Cilag vaccine.

According to a report the agency published on its website on Friday, the incident took place on January 2, but its details were not disclosed.