Dr. Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutions of Health
Patrick McDermott | Washington Nationals | Getty Images
The top official at the National Institutes of Health on Thursday said the coronavirus vaccine Russia said it had approved “fundamental parts” of the approval process.
“I think almost every fax expert in the world has looked at this quite a bit whether this was a wise decision. Some have called this Russian roulette,” said Dr. Francis Collins, director of the NIH, during a conference call with reporters.
NIH is part of the federal government’s program called Operation Warp Speed, designed to accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of vaccines and treatments to combat coronavirus.
Scientists and health officials around the world have questioned the security and effectiveness of Russia’s vaccine, which President Vladimir Putin claimed “works fairly effectively.” Putin said Tuesday that Russian health authorities approved what would be the first vaccine for coronavirus and said one of his daughters had already taken it.
“While I know it works quite effectively, it forms a stable immunity and, if I repeat, has passed all the necessary controls,” Putin said.
On the call Thursday, Collins said Russia had only conducted one phase one clinical trial of its vaccine, administering it to about 100 people, and decided “that was good enough.” However, medical experts have warned that it is unknown if a vaccine would work and what the potential side effects would be without a large-scale phase three clinical trial.
“If that were the standard, we would be declared successful several months ago because we had that experience of successful phase one trials,” Collins said.
Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told National Geographic in an interview that he “seriously doubts” that Russia has proven that the vaccine is safe and effective.
“Having a vaccine … and proving that a vaccine is safe and effective are two different things. We have half a dozen or more vaccines, so if we wanted the chance to hurt a lot of people or give them something, Work, we could start doing this, you know, new week if we want, ‘Fauci said during a National Geographic panel moderated by ABC News Correspondent Deborah Roberts that aired on Thursday.
The World Health Organization said it was in contact with Russian regulators to conduct a rigorous review of the country’s vaccine before recommending it to other nations for bidding.
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