COVID-19 Vaccine Race: Russia Declares Sputnik V Breakthrough!
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Photo: wionnews.com |
Russia becomes the first country in the world to officially approve a
COVID-19 vaccine, significantly named ‘Sputnik V’; Sputnik 1 was the first ever
orbital satellite launched in 1957 which set off a space war between the
superpowers, the USA prominently. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on
Tuesday, the 11th of August, 2020 that Russian scientists had
achieved a breakthrough in the global COVID-19 vaccine race with Sputnik V which
was experimented tested safely on volunteers including the President’s daughter,
over a period of two months starting June. He further said that the virus has ‘sustainable
immunity’ and it is registered and approved for civilian use. Sputnik V is
developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Research Institute in collaboration with the
country’s defence ministry. Thousands of doses are likely to be administered first
on the communities at risk, mostly the health workers and teachers, from this
month itself, coming ahead of the most promising vaccine candidates: Oxford-AstraZeneca,
Moderna and Pfizer. The industrial production is set to kick-start either from September,
2020 or from January, 2021 which is so far not clear, as per media reports and interviews.
In any case, millions of doses are to be produced every month from early next
year.
The announcement, as expected, set off a chain of reactions around the
world, ranging from ‘alarming’ to ‘shocking’. Of course, there are at least two
valid reasons for this skepticism among the top scientists and health experts
of the world: first, its incredible fast-tracking, getting it done just nine
months into the Corona crisis; second, the lack of public data that makes the
safety and efficacy aspects of Sputnik V very doubtful which, if used widely at
this stage, could create health complications in vaccinated people. The scientists
say that the announcement is based only on the results of Phase-1 clinical
trials, and the results of Phase-2 and Phase-3, if at all completed, are yet to
be published. They add emphatically that without the Phase-3 trials where the vaccine
is administered to tens of thousands of volunteers no vaccine could be declared
as safe and effective.
The Russian government officials defend Sputnik V success with the
contention that this was not entirely a new vaccine, because it is primarily
based on the vaccine developed earlier for the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome
(MERS) disease that was caused by another Coronavirus. They maintain that there
had been experimentation and testing for over two months, Phase-2 has also been
completed in July and Phase-3 near completion at the moment. Regarding the ‘lack
of transparency’ charge they say that the world must acknowledge Russia’s traditional
policy of ‘secrecy’ which was also clearly visible during Sputnik 1 launch. Another
reference point given here is that of China’s equally secretive ways, where the
Wuhan Vaccine was supposedly developed and tried in military personnel without publishing
any public data.
Other critiques allege that the vaccine race has been assuming the color
of ‘vaccine nationalism’ and even a ‘cold-war namesake’ with countries trying
to rush through the process as a matter of national pride and a victory in the
global race beating one’s super rivals. However, this allegation cannot be just
Russia-specific or China-specific, this, unfortunately, has been emerging as an
international phenomenon based on strategic defence and diplomatic relations
and the principles of alignment or non-alignment. Even a large part of the mainstream
international media does reflect this conflict: Russia, on one two occasions
earlier, had in fact reported on getting close to producing a vaccine, but the
news was not widely carried for obvious reasons, while the development of
vaccines in the US or in the West was given exhaustive publicity. US President
Donald Trump had admitted recently that he had actually been rushing through
the process in view of the international crisis, the other strategic reasons being
hidden apparently. For the same reasons,
most of the experts from the US or the West are least likely to acknowledge the
Russian achievement of a ‘ready’ vaccine and would be more prone to ‘raising an
alarm’.
The Russian government claimed that around 20 countries had expressed
interest in producing Sputnik V including Brazil, India and others. Accordingly,
over a billion doses are to be manufactured from the start of 2021. Meanwhile,
the government of India has appointed a National Experts Group on Vaccine Administration
to examine the safety aspects of Sputnik V before adopting or approving it. The
World Health Organization (WHO), at loggerheads with President Trump at the
present moment, has also responded to Russia’s registering of the first-ever
COVID-19 vaccine and asked for a rigorous review of safety data to be submitted
if the country wants a WHO approval. The WHO has also said that it has been in
constant touch with Russian health authorities and brainstorming discussions
are going on.
Whatever be the rivalry or nationalistic pride or vaccine cold-war between
countries or superpowers of the world the international community, to
reemphasize again, must unite and fully cooperate in discovering the
most-wanted and eagerly-awaited COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible. Every vaccine
candidate must be assessed on pure merit only, in respect to its safety data
and immunity parameters, and definitely not on the basis of which country of
what strategic importance or of what governance policy or of what ideology has
produced it or has been developing it. Hopefully, considering the various
stages of development of various vaccines, primarily, Oxford-AstraZeneca, Moderna,
Pfizer, Sputnik V and Wuhan, humankind is very likely to be blessed with a
vaccine by end of 2020 or more realistically, in the early part of 2021. Significantly,
the Russian vaccine also does conform to this deadline only, one likes it or
not.
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