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The country’s plan to launch mass vaccination starting in October could pressure other governments to anticipate regulators and miss important milestones, putting those vaccinated at risk. Any fiasco in Russia could undermine confidence in the vaccine.
Much has been at stake to overcome the crisis that has claimed the lives of more than 750,000 people around the world. The Donald Trump administration continues to actively develop Operation Warp Speed, an unprecedented US project to accelerate the development and production of the COVID vaccine, and a global mobilization effort in China to launch vaccination as soon as possible.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 11. announced that the country’s Health Ministry approved the world’s first coronavirus vaccine, and the news promises another new turning point.
Any attempt to begin mass-producing a vaccine based on insufficient evidence that it is effective could have damaging consequences, said Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center (MVEC) and an infectious disease specialist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
“All of this can lead other leaders to say, ‘Listen, they’re doing it and it’s enough for them. And if that’s enough for them, we don’t want to experience a fiasco. We also want to protect our residents, “he said.
History offers lessons on the importance of developing a rigorous approach to vaccine development, moving away from politics.
Misconceptions about the safety of effective immunization are already widespread; The paths along this path, while rare, only heighten concerns and show how an inappropriate COVID vaccine can further distort and consequently affect public opinion.
Urgent plans
Russian officials deny fears about the safety of the vaccine and the accelerating pace of its development in the country. According to them, Western jealousy is fueling criticism of a vaccine called Sputnik V, the world’s first artificial terrestrial satellite launched by the former Soviet Union in 1957.
Putin reported that the new vaccines had even been tested on one of his daughters.
Authorities say they plan to begin vaccinating medical personnel and others at risk in late August, in particular by offering to be tested by volunteers who will be closely monitored; and adds that other countries are also moving rapidly in this direction.
In July, Russia began clinical trials of a second vaccine developed by the Vector laboratory in Novosibirsk.
Meanwhile, other vaccine developers, including AstraZeneca Plc in the UK, a partner at the University of Oxford, and Moderna Inc., a US biotech company, continue with the final phase of clinical trials of a vaccine. against the coronavirus that involves tens of thousands of people.
While US President Donald Trump has said the vaccine could be ready before the November 3 election, Anthony Fauci, the nation’s renowned infectious disease expert, says the process could take longer and that the vaccines will not reach the majority of the public until 2021.
For politicians, the vaccine is important not only to overcome a pandemic. Some of them hope to use COVID-19 vaccines to improve their ranking as managers and to turn off criticism for their past actions.
This is an opportunity for Prime Minister Boris Johnson to show that the UK, which has left the EU, can develop vaccines on its own faster than the European Union. A Chinese vaccine could help President X Jinping erase memories of the origins of the virus.
As the United States leads the world in the number of deaths from COVID-19, D. Trump needs a surprise to change the results of the polls. And Putin sees an opportunity to defeat the West and gain a strategic advantage. Its ratings fell dramatically as the number of COVID cases in Russia jumped to the fourth highest level in the world.
“You need a big win,” said Stephen Morrison, director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies at the World Center for Health Policy. “Its economy is stagnating in response to the wave of viruses and the collapse of oil markets.”
Chinese vaccines
For these reasons, Putin may not be thinking too much about the potential negative effects of the vaccine. China is already beginning to vaccinate its soldiers with its vaccine, and they are unlikely to give their conscious voluntary consent, says Lawrence Gostin, professor of global health law at Georgetown University.
All of this could encourage other political leaders to take similar steps to bypass regulators like the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). D. Trump is already, in a sense, lagging behind in a race in which two of America’s main geopolitical rivals are using their authoritarian power to advance.
FDA officials stress that they will only approve the COVID-19 vaccine after thorough investigation and make decisions based on “scientific and other relevant information.”
“In my opinion, Trump will try to influence the FDA, but he will not be able to break it,” Gostin said. – I trust the FDA, but I’m very concerned. I have no doubt that we would be in the path of China or Russia if we did not have strong institutional pillars. “
Even if Trump wanted to act unilaterally to authorize the vaccine, he would likely have to face Warp Speed, Morrison said.
The government has entrusted billions of dollars to companies to develop vaccines, and they are unlikely to back plans to distribute unapproved products without testing to prove their safety, he said.
“RE. It will be much more difficult for Putin to pick up on such a trick than for Putin,” Morrison said.
Manufacturing agreements
The Russian vaccine is being developed by the Gamalay Institute, the Ministry of Defense and the Direct Investment Fund of the Russian State; according to them, the vaccine has now reached the final testing stage.
Relevant research is planned in countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), this project is still in an early stage.
Mass production is planned in several countries, at least two dozen of them are interested in buying vaccines, said the Russian Fund for Direct Investment, which finances vaccine research.
“Russia’s vaccine could help the world economy recover,” said Kirill Dmitriev, chief executive of the fund.
“Countries that will soon have access to a safe vaccine will overcome the crisis successfully, without fear and with minimal losses,” he said.
However, the lack of data and the growing gap between science and policy are sounding the alarm bells.
With the virus spreading, there is a danger that countries that depend on supplies from larger economies will eventually adopt a product whose reliability and effectiveness have yet to be conclusively proven, said Offitt, an expert at the University of Pennsylvania.
There are also concerns about the impact on global efforts to tackle a variety of diseases if the Russian fast-selling vaccine causes problems.
Skeptics would inevitably point the finger at this and previous cases.
In 2016, the Philippines took a vigorous initiative to vaccinate children against dengue. But vaccination was stopped when Dengvaxia was associated with an increased risk in those who had not been exposed to the mosquito-borne virus before.
Swine flu
After an outbreak of swine flu in the United States in 1976 raised concerns about the global crisis, then-President Gerald Ford announced plans to vaccinate the entire population of the country.
More than 40 million will be available soon. Americans were vaccinated. But that outbreak did not turn into a pandemic, and some vaccinated people developed Guien-Bar syndrome, which can cause temporary paralysis.
Any mistakes in the hasty development of COVID-19 vaccines could affect confidence in a safer product that will be discovered later, says Heidi Larson, director of the Vaccine Confidence Project and a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
“We have a chance to make a first impression,” he said. “If Russia’s hasty efforts to use the vaccine prematurely lead to adverse side effects, they could undermine already fragile confidence.”
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