Will Russia save the day?
- The Random Leftist
- Aug 22, 2020
- 4 min read
In the ongoing epic, that is 2020, one of the biggest questions is who will defeat the main villain covid19. Well, currently, the nation who claims they will slay the dreaded disease is Russia. With Russian leader Vladimir Putin announcing on Tuesday, August 11, that he was going to launch a mass vaccine program. The Russian health ministry said, “The first batch of the novel coronavirus vaccine developed by the Gamaleya research institute has been produced.” However, will this be the case, or is this just going to be another addition to the list of disappointments this year has had?
To quote vaccine expert Paul Offit “We do not know anything about this vaccine other than the fact that Vladimir Putin got on the airwaves and said, ‘This is going to be safe, this will be effective, it has checked all the boxes.’ Moreover, one can only interpret this as a political stunt.” In addition to a lack of details, another reason scientists around are skeptical is because of one detail they do know.
In an attempt to rush production of a vaccine, Putin passed various laws in April, which essentially allowed medicine companies to skip phase 3 of the vaccine manufacturing process. As the name suggests, phase three is the third phase of the vaccine clinical trial process. Now the purposes of each stage are as follows:
During these phases, scientists gather volunteers to test the potential vaccine. They assess the medical affects the potential vaccines have on the patients. These traits last a few months and require between 20 and 80 participants.
These trials mainly occur if the vaccine is proven to be safe. The purpose of these phases to assess the effectiveness of the potential vaccine against the disease. These trials can range from being as long as a few months to an entire year, and the number of participants ranges from 100 to 300.
This phase double-checks the findings of the first two. It does this by comparing the potential vaccines to other treatments. The number of participants ranges from 1000 to 3000 and lasts one or more years. In the US, the FDA reviews the results from phase three in order to approve vaccines.
This is basically after the vaccine has been approved and made available for public use. What makes this part a phase is that scientists and officials still monitor the impact it has on the broader population. Should an adverse effect that was not noticed in previous trials affect the broader population, it could be pulled from shelves.
Despite international criticism, the Russian state is still going ahead in its initiative to release the vaccine, with their health minister claiming that during last week the vaccine would first be made available to medics and then eventually all Russian citizens. With the plan being that 5 million doses of the vaccine will be produced monthly beginning around September.
In a cute reference to one of their previous scientific breakthroughs, Russian scientists named it the Sputnik V. In addition to this homage, the Russian leadership is also claiming they took the vaccine, with the big man himself Putin claiming his family was tested. Additionally, this bravado is being believed by some. A little over 20 countries have shown interest in Russia’s Vaccine. Among them are India, Cuba, South Korea, and Turkey. As expected, if the vaccine were to prove valid, they would get billions of dollars in investments from around the world.
To quote Offit once again, “This pandemic has been an opportunity employer… This virus affects all nations, all ethnic backgrounds, all religious groups. We should all be brought together in this effort because all of us are at risk. What Putin has done is a political threat.” In addition to pitting different nations against each other, it could also cause a sort of biotech Cold War where countries compete to outdo each other rather than working together. Additionally, there are also questions about how Russia managed to speed up its development of the vaccine with authorities in the US and UK accusing Russia of get this, hacking them to get their information.
Additionally, even domestically, Putin is facing some backlash. With veteran lawyer Svetlana Zavidova remarking, “I feel only shame for our country.” While researcher Alexey Chumakov states that the Russian health ministry does not ask for the input from the scientific community and remarking that “They might have a good result and it may show that it works—that is among the best outcomes—but I think there is probably like a 20% chance [the vaccine] will make things worse.”
Another known detail about the vaccine is that it uses strands of adenovirus, a virus that causes the common cold but is also used to counter other diseases. A fact that many scientists have criticized since in 2007 the adenovirus was once used in an attempt to create an HIV vaccine, but it only increased its ability to spread. However, it is also not without effectiveness since it has been used to counter Ebola and Middle East respiratory syndrome, a disease that has some relation to COVID. Additionally, the Gamaleye institute does have experience in using adenovirus and was among the ones who used it to develop the Ebola vaccine.
Overall it does seem Putin’s promise will fall flat; however, it would not be impossible for him to surprise us all. Though it is rather unlikely but as Churchill said, “Russia is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.”
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