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The World Health Organization has warned that vaccines are not a magic bullet for the coronavirus crisis, as Russia began vaccinating its high-risk workers on Saturday and other countries braced for similar programs.
Health officials in Moscow said they had opened 70 coronavirus vaccination centers in the Russian capital that would initially offer hits for social, educational and health workers.
Centers in the capital began administering vaccines to willing recipients three days after President Vladimir Putin ordered the launch of a “large-scale” COVID-19 immunization campaign, although a Russian-designed vaccine has yet to complete. the advanced studies necessary to guarantee its efficacy and safety in accordance with established scientific protocols.
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The Russian leader said on Wednesday that more than 2 million doses of Sputnik V will be available in the coming days.
A Russian medical worker prepares an injection of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in Moscow, Russia, on Saturday, December 5, 2020 (AP Photo / Pavel Golovkin)
Moscow, which currently accounts for about a quarter of the country’s daily new infections, got ahead of the curve with the opening of vaccination facilities on Saturday. Doctors, teachers and municipal workers were invited to reserve a time to receive an injection. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said about 5,000 signed up within hours after the system went live on Friday.
“Of course I had doubts, especially since all the clinical trials have not ended,” said Tatyana Kirsanova, who received the vaccine on Saturday at a Moscow clinic. “But I decided to go ahead and protect myself with all possible options.”
Russia boasted that Sputnik V was the “world’s first registered COVID-19 vaccine” after the government gave it regulatory approval in early August. The move drew criticism from international experts, who noted that the vaccine had only been tested on several dozen people at the time.
Sputnik V has been offered to medical workers and teachers for several months even though the vaccine was still in the middle of advanced trials. Several senior Russian officials said they had received the required two blows, and the Russian military this week began vaccinating the crews of navy ships scheduled to depart on a mission.
Medical workers help a man, suspected of having coronavirus, out of an ambulance at the hospital for coronavirus patients in Kommunarka, outside Moscow, Russia, on Saturday, December 5, 2020 (AP Photo / Pavel Golovkin).
Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said Wednesday that more than 100,000 people in Russia have received the injections.
‘Vaccines are not equal to zero Covid’
The WHO warned of what it said was a mistaken belief that the COVID-19 crisis ended with blows on the horizon, nearly a year after the start of the pandemic that has killed 1.5 million people worldwide.
“Vaccines do not equal zero Covid,” said WHO emergency director Michael Ryan, adding that not everyone will be able to receive it early next year.
“Vaccination will add an important, important and powerful tool to the set of tools that we have. But by themselves, they won’t do the job. “
A Russian medical worker, right, administers an injection of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in Moscow, Russia, on Saturday, December 5, 2020 (AP Photo / Pavel Golovkin).
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also warned against the “growing perception that the pandemic is over” with the virus still spreading rapidly, putting enormous pressure on hospitals and healthcare workers.
The WHO warning came as the United States recorded a record number of COVID-19 cases for the second day in a row on Friday, as the country prepared for what US President-elect Joe Biden has called a “winter. Dark”.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended “universal face mask use” indoors, and Biden said he would reduce his opening ceremony in January to mitigate the risk of viruses.
It is produced as countries prepare for the approval and launch of various vaccines that have been proven effective in trials.
The WHO says 51 candidate vaccines are currently being tested in humans, and 13 are reaching the final stage of mass testing.
A medical worker removes a box of Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine from a refrigerator before administering a vaccine in Moscow, Russia, on Saturday, December 5, 2020 (AP Photo / Pavel Golovkin).
Britain on Wednesday became the first Western country to approve a vaccine, from Pfizer-BioNTech, for general use, mounting pressure on other countries to quickly follow suit.
The United States is expected to give the green light later this month.
Belgium, France and Spain have said that the coups will begin in January for the most vulnerable.
With the imminent arrival of vaccines that need ultra-low temperature storage, American companies are preparing for a massive logistical effort to aid distribution.
Firms specializing in insulated containers are on the warpath after Pfizer and BioNTech said their vaccine should be stored at -94 degrees Fahrenheit (-70 Celsius).
Meat-processing giant Smithfield said it was ready to make its slaughterhouse cold rooms available for vaccine launch operations.
And US logistics giant UPS is churning out 1,100 pounds (500 kilograms) of dry ice an hour in its warehouses and has developed portable freezers capable of storing vaccines at temperatures down to -112 Fahrenheit.
On the road to success there are growing signs of vaccine skepticism, with misinformation and mistrust staining public acceptance of inoculation.
In Russia, the Levada polling agency recently found that only 36 percent of respondents were prepared to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.
A nurse wearing a mask proceeds to vaccinate against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) with the Sputnik V vaccine (Gam-COVID-Vac) at a Moscow clinic on December 5, 2020 (Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP)
Several high-profile figures have pledged to receive the vaccine in public in an effort to build trust, including Biden, Tedros and former US Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton.
The United States recorded 225,000 new infections on Friday, the second consecutive daily record for the world’s worst-hit nation.
Biden said the growing number of cases meant he would cut back on his opening ceremony scheduled for January.
“We are going to follow the science and the recommendations of the experts,” Biden told reporters.
More than 65 million people have contracted COVID-19 worldwide, and the death toll from the disease has exceeded 1.5 million since it first appeared in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.
British medical chiefs said the arrival of a vaccine should reduce deaths “significantly” early next year, but warned that social mixing around Christmas could cause another spike before then.
“By spring, the effects of vaccination will begin to be felt by significantly reducing Covid admissions, attendance and deaths, but there are many weeks left before we reach that stage,” they said.
Italy is experiencing a dramatic resurgence of infections after largely suppressing a previous outbreak by enforcing a strict lockdown, while Latin America and the Caribbean region have seen an 18 percent increase in cases in a week.
Other countries are also revealing holiday restrictions, with Switzerland banning Christmas carols on the streets and Madrid canceling most New Year’s events in the city center.
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