However, Western media quickly lashed out at Russia’s parade, pointing out that the creator of the vaccine, Moscow’s Gamaleya Research Institute, had not been transparent about its testing process. The fax had not even completed the Phase III tests, and Gamaleya has never made its Phase I and II tests public.
At home in Russia, the reaction is equally mixed. The development of the vaccine – named Sputnik V, an allusion to the glory days of the Soviet Union during the space race – is a major PR victory for Moscow. Local media sites were quick to headline such as “Russian fax and Putin’s daughter win over Global Media.”
Russian friends in Moscow interpreted the news as a sign that the country could still compete scientifically with the West after years of underfunding for the sciences and brains. “The Western media write badly about Russia because it feels good about it,” complained Slava Fillipov, a photographer friend. “But we are much more developed and smart than they think.”
Yet, even as many ordinary Russians profess pride in the achievements of their scientists, the medical community is much more skeptical. A recent survey shows that 1 in 2 doctors have reservations about the inoculation, with two-thirds worrying about too little data proving its effectiveness, and others worrying that it was developed “too quickly”.
Even Russian friends who praised the performance still admitted that they would rather wait until tears were complete – and the vaccine was also approved by the international community – before playing Russian roulette with their health. Most privately acknowledge that they are friends that vaccination is not required in advance.
Most outsiders – and even a slight majority in Russia – see the Kremlin’s rapid approval of the vaccine as a political ploy – a way to score an easy victory over the West in the global race for a safe and effective vaccine. to develop coronavirus. The Kremlin’s gripping moniker also betrays its true purpose as a weapon in Russia’s game of one-man work with the West.
Svetlana Zavidova, executive director of the Association of Clinical Trials Organizations (ACTO) in Russia, warned against the untested vaccine in an interview with Bloomberg. “The rules for conducting clinical trials are written in blood. They cannot be violated,” Zavidova said. “This is a Pandora’s Box, and we do not know what will happen to people who have injected an unproven vaccine.”
The Internet is already full of memes about Russia’s suspected vaccine, including a widely shared NSFW photo of a shirtless Putin with big breasts under the caption: “Putin says Covid-19 vaccine has no side effects.”
However, not everyone in Russia is so fond of Sputnik V. “I am confident enough in the Russian Gamaleya vaccine that I received an injection of it … and developed a strong immunity in twenty days,” cheered Kirill Dmitriev, head of $ 50 billion Russia Sovereign Wealth Fund that bankrolls the development of the virus, in a creeping op-ed for Newsweek.
In addition to Putin’s daughter (the Russian president has not specified which), there are reports that many Russian oligarchs have taken the vaccine in recent weeks as well. And with Russia set to vaccinate teachers and others at risk at the end of the month, some Russians are waiting for their first shot, according to breathless media reports.
Kremlin media have also been quick to point out that the development of the vaccine proves that Russia can still draw its weight in science and technology.
They have a point: Sputnik V is a sophisticated shot of biotechnology. It usually uses cold adenovirus injected with genes from the spike of the coronavirus to cause an immune response in the human body. And, unlike Western vaccines under development, it uses a booster shot of another cold virus 21 days later to increase its effectiveness.
While comparable to the Oxford University vaccine in development with AstraZeneca, the use of human adenovirus by the Russians – unlike monkey in the former case – is unique. And the Gamaleya Institute has in the past also successfully patented vaccines for Ebola, MERs and other viral diseases.
Even some Western experts agree.
“From what I’ve seen out there, they’s probably the most promising platform,” says Hildegund Ertl, who studies adenoviral vector vaccines at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia.
Domestically, Putin’s gambit of treating the development of a corona vaccine like a current space race and cutting corners to beat the rest until the finish, has paid dividends for now. Russians are understandably proud, and the president’s popularity has gained momentum following the dissatisfaction of the long corona winter.
While the rest of the world remains cautious and fearful, with the need for constant social distancing, the longing for a return to normalcy shrinking, Russia feels it is already on the brink of a post-corona future. Schools and universities are set to open in September, museums and theaters are open, and fears and paranoia about catching coronavirus have been reversed.
“Who cares to catch corona when we have a vaccine,” a taxi driver said this week.
Putin has certainly won a temporary victory. But his tendency to bend the rules to move forward – as Russia did at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi with its illegal doping of athletes – could come back even later to haunt him.
When it later turns out that the Sputnik V vaccine has side effects that endanger the health of the Russians, and others brave enough to attempt the rapid cure, its reputation can never be restored. The West will then be rightly proven in its distrust of the Russian vaccine.
Putin may yet discover that, as in the classic fable of the tortoise and the hair, it takes more than speed to win the race.
