Reuters reported that Russia developed the vaccine after less than two months of testing on humans.
Getty Russia made the announcement that he hopes to begin mass producing vaccine « Sputnik V » soon. Health agency officials outside of Russia are skeptical of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement that scientists have successfully created a vaccine that provides immunity to the coronavirus, including National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, who has expressed doubts about the country’s testing methods. Putin made the announcement that the country registered a vaccine Tuesday morning on August 11, saying, “We should be grateful to those who have taken this first step, which is very important for our country and the whole world,” the Wall Street Journal reported. The vaccine is named “Sputnik V,” after the satellite Russia launched to beat the U. S. in the space race. Russia, according to the Johns Hopkins University dashboard, has the fourth-most cases (895,691), but it has reported a fairly low number of deaths (15,103) compared to other countries with high case rates. Russia names new COVID-19 vaccine ‘Sputnik V’ in reference to Cold War space race https://t.co/mIgQRCZjzi pic.twitter.com/Nnd7LnwUwX Reuters (@Reuters) August 11, 2020 Russia developed the vaccine at Russia’s Gamaleya Institute for Epidemiology and Microbiology using adenoviruses, according to the Washington Post. Adenoviruses are common viruses that cause cold and flu-like symptoms and tend to more severely affect those with weak immune systems as well as preexisting respiratory and cardiac diseases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In vaccine development, they are being used to trigger an infection reaction, which will cause the body to create coronavirus spike proteins which can then “train our bodies to detect and terminate any real SARS-CoV-2 infections before the virus wreaks havoc,” Chemical and Engineering News reported. This is a similar approach that many other countries’ vaccine developers have taken, including U. S.-based researchers. However, many of those drugs are still waiting to finish going through all three CDC recommended testing phases before registering their vaccines for wide use. Reuters reported that Russia developed the vaccine after less than two months of testing on humans. Amid questions of whether the vaccine was developed according to proper protocols, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci expressed concern. “I do hope that the Chinese and the Russians are actually testing the vaccine before they are administering the vaccine to anyone, because claims of having a vaccine ready to distribute before you do testing, I think, is problematic at best,” he said. Aljazeera reported that an assistant director at the World Health Organization, Jarbas Barbosa, has said their officials had “not received enough information on the Russian COVID-19 vaccine to evaluate it.
