[ad_1]
Fo Kirill Dmitriev, the man in charge of selling Russia’s coronavirus vaccine to the world, there’s a simple reason behind Moscow’s accelerating push to be the first country to launch a coronavirus vaccine for widespread use.
“It’s part of the Russian mindset to save the world,” Dmitriev, head of Russia’s RDIF sovereign wealth fund, said in an interview with The Guardian.
Others see things quite differently. After President Vladimir Putin announced on August 11 that the Russian vaccine had “passed all the necessary tests,” there was a chorus of unease from scientists around the world. Many pointed out that the scientific data from the first trials had not been made public and that the phase three trials of the vaccine had not even begun.
There were also previous accusations from British security officials. that Russian hackers had stolen secrets from medical institutions in the West. Dmitriev dismissed the criticism and accusations as a “concerted effort to tarnish the Russian vaccine for political reasons.”
What is clear is that the vaccine race has turned into another front in the confrontation between Russia and the West. It is no coincidence that Russia has called its vaccine Sputnik V, which dates back to the Soviet satellite sent into orbit in 1957 amid fierce competition with the United States. For Russia, providing the first solution to a pandemic that has affected every corner of the world would be seen as confirmation that the country’s scientific brains are still among the best in the world.
“It’s like the space race half a century later. If it is indeed a success story and Russia is the first country to create an efficient vaccine, then of course it is a great public relations opportunity, ”said Andrey Kortunov, who heads the Russian Council on International Affairs in Moscow.
But first, Russia has to show that Sputnik V, produced by Gamaleya, part of the country’s health ministry, really works. In early September, the Gamaleya scientists published the results of the phase one and two trials in The Lancet, and a phase three trial is now underway, which should include 40,000 vaccinated volunteers in the coming weeks. However, even at this early stage, the government is pushing ahead with ambitious plans for broad implementation across the country and beyond.
While there is clearly an eye on world glory, producing a successful vaccine will also be welcome at home, given that Russia has recorded the fourth highest number of Covid cases in the world. A second wave is underway, with the number of new cases increasing dramatically in recent days. On Monday, Putin called on the Russians to take “maximum responsibility” for their behavior and try to minimize the risks of Covid.
“We are already vaccinating high-risk groups in different regions of Russia, and by December we will reach about 10 million doses a month,” said Dmitriev, who estimates that within seven to nine months, most Russians will have been vaccinated. . While the doses for the Russians will be produced domestically, Russia hopes to grant production licenses to several other countries, including India, and Dmitriev estimated the capacity could be 500 million doses a year next year.
These figures may be wildly unrealistic, but the confidence with which they are expressed underscores the fact that the Russian authorities have bet heavily on the vaccine being a success story.
Numerous vaccines are in advanced clinical trials around the world, but the Gamaleya vaccine is the only one that already has large-scale implementation plans. The vaccine uses two human adenoviruses engineered with a coronavirus gene and comes in two injections taken 21 days apart. On Wednesday, Russia’s consumer safety watchdog said the Vector institute in Siberia had completed clinical trials of a potential second vaccine.
The Gamaleya scientists believe that the immunity from their double-shot vaccine should last for two years, although Dmitriev admitted that “only time will tell.” Some critics of the speed of delivery have said that while the vaccine itself may be safe, if it offers minimal or brief immune responses, it can backfire and lower confidence in vaccines overall. Other scientists have been more positive.
“The risks associated with this class of vaccine are not great and I think they are likely to provide a level of immunity that is helpful,” said Ian Jones, professor of virology at the University of Reading.
Many senior Russian officials took the vaccine over the summer, even before it was approved for use, as did one of Putin’s daughters. “I had a fever for a day, I took some paracetamol and then it was fine. Now I can see that I have antibodies, ”said a member of the Russian political elite who was vaccinated in June.
Still, some are uncomfortable with the speed of the launch. One official said the issue had become “so politicized” that it was best not to discuss it or pose potential risks in official meetings.
It is not just Russia that has seen vaccine development as a career. In the US presidential debate on Tuesday, Joe Biden accused Trump of trying to rush with a vaccine. “He’s lobbying and disagreeing with his own scientists,” Joe Biden said, responding to Trump saying that a vaccine would be ready “very soon.”
The moment of truth for the Russian vaccine will be the results of phase three trials. According to the Health Ministry, as of last Friday, 3,500 people had participated in the trial, and all 40,000 should have received their first injection by the end of October. A quarter of the participants will receive a placebo to compare the rates of Covid infection between the two groups. Test participants will be required to upload health data to an app for a period of six months.
Authorities say the trial has an excessive number of applications, but there are indications that not everyone is participating voluntarily. An employee of a Moscow government department described the pressure at work to enroll. “It was clear that we had to register online for the test. When they called me to tell me to come on a date, I had to make up an excuse why I couldn’t, ”said the employee. A journalist for the Russian media Meduza, who volunteered for the vaccine, reported that when he arrived at the vaccination point, a man complained that he had been forced to attend.
The health ministry and Gamaleya declined to answer The Guardian’s questions, initially promising an interview, but later offering a brief written response to the questions, stating that the vaccine “has proven its safety and efficacy.”
Russia is so confident that Sputnik V will succeed that it will not seek full compensation from buyers, leaving the state open to huge compensation claims if major side effects are discovered later. Dmitriev said he had already received interim orders for more than 1.2 billion doses of the vaccine for next year from more than 50 countries.
“Unfortunately, the West, for political reasons, will continue to paint it black and undermine it, and that is just the unfortunate reality of the world,” he said.
