“Sputnik V”, the Russian vaccine against the coronavirus that is not convincing even in Russia

While the coronavirus vaccines developed in the West are received with emotion and enthusiasm, has found the version made in Russia an incorrect answer. Some Moscow clinics that offer it to health personnel and teachers, the first on the list, they remain empty, according to reports.

Members of the Kremlin and state-controlled media presented the Sputnik vaccine as a great milestone when it was approved on August 11. But among Russians, hopes that the drug would turn the tide of the coronavirus crisis are mixed objections and skepticism, out of concern about how it accelerated launch of the vaccine while trials were ongoing to ensure its effectiveness and safety.

Russia was criticized internationally for approving a vaccine It’s not over yet advanced studies of tens of thousands of people, and experts both inside and outside the country warned of its widespread use until the studies were completed.

Despite these warnings, authorities began offering it to a number of high-risk groups as first-line medical personnel weeks after the drug’s approval. Alexander Gintsburg, director of the Gamaleya Institute that developed the vaccine, said last week more than 150,000 Russians had received it.

One of them was Dr. Alexander Zatsepin, an intensive care specialist in Voronezh, a city 500 kilometers south of Moscow, who was vaccinated in October.

“We’ve been working with COVID-19 patients since March and every day when we get home we worry about infecting our family members. So when an opportunity came up to protect myself and them, I thought I should take advantage of it. to make.” he pointed.

“The vaccine is a few months old (…) Its long-term effects are not known, its effectiveness has not been demonstrated”

Yekaterina Kasyanova

Russian doctor from the Union of Doctors Alliance

However, Zatsepin said he was still taking precautions against contamination as studies of the vaccine’s effectiveness are still ongoing They are not ready yet.

“Still there is no absolute trust” said.

After Britain announced on December 2 that it had licensed a vaccine developed by pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and BioNTech, Russian President Vladimir Putin told authorities they would launch a large-scale vaccination campaign, sparking Moscow’s interest. shown. because they are at the forefront of the fight against the pandemic.

Russia approved its vaccine after only testing it in a few dozen people, and presented it as the “world’s first” to be approved. The developers called it “Sputnik V”, referring to the world’s first satellite launched by the Soviet Union in 1957 during the Cold War.

Each ampoule or vial contains five doses. Once thawed, they should be administered within two hours or discarded.

That is where it is at stake something else than national pride. Russia has recorded more than 2.7 million COVID-19 cases and more than 48,000 deaths and wants to save its economy another damaging quarantine.

On December 2, Putin scored a goal of approx two million doses in the next few days. Despite the limited supply for a country of 146 million inhabitantsMoscow immediately expanded the list of people who could receive it. The vaccine is free for any employee of educational or health institutions, whether state or private, as well as social and municipal workers, retailers and service providers and artists.

For poor countries

The European Medicines Agency said have not received a request manufacturers to apply for authorization in the European Union, but some data has been shared with the World Health Organization. The UN agency does not usually approve vaccines alone and awaits the judgment of regulatory authorities. According to the media, the use of the Russian vaccine is being considered in a global project led by the WHO to distribute vaccines against COVID-19 to the poorest countries.

Unlike Great Britain, where the elderly are vaccinated first, Sputnik V he has Priority given to people between 18 and 60 years old no chronic illnesses and they are not pregnant or breastfeeding.

The developers have said research data suggests the drug has that 91% effectiveness, a conclusion based on 78 infections among nearly 23,000 participants. They are much less positive than those that Western pharmaceutical companies have collected in their latest studies before analyzing the effectiveness of their vaccine candidates. Have not been published important information from the Russian studio, like demographic profile of the participants.

Some experts say this success rate produces optimism, but that public confidence it could be a problem.

“I’m not too concerned that Sputnik V is unsafe or less effective than we need,” said Judy Twigg, a professor of political science at Virginia Commonwealth University and a specialist in global health. Russia will be ready to don it. ”

An October poll by the Levada Center, Russia’s largest independent surveyor, showed this 59% of Russians He was unwilling to get vaccinated, even if it was free.

Denis Volkov, a sociologist and deputy director of the Levada Center, said respondents had cited unfinished clinical trials and noted that the vaccine it was “half cooked” and that they were suspicious of claims that Russia was the first country in the world to have a vaccine, while others continued to work on theirs.

Some of the medical workers and professors interviewed by The Associated Press reported it your skepticism by the vaccine because the tests have not been completed.

That said Dr. Yekaterina Kasyanova from the Kemorovo region of Siberia did not seem reliable enough and he had advised his mother, the teacher, not to wear it either.

“The vaccine is a few months old (…) Effects are unknown in the long run, its effectiveness has not been proven, ” he said.

For other health professionals, the decision to get vaccinated was an easy one.

“Every day people die here. Every day we take off bodies. What do I have to think about?” Said Dr. Marina Pecherkina, an infectious disease specialist in the eastern city of Vladivostok. She has been vaccinated in October because he works with coronavirus patients on a daily basis.

The Mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, said more than 6,000 people received the injections in the first five days of vaccinations, which began December 5.

But some media reports about the first days of the Moscow campaign they showed empty clinics and health workers offering vaccines to everyone who came. In some cases, this was because the drug has to be stored at minus 18 degrees Celsius (0.4 degrees Fahrenheit) and each bottle contains five doses. Once thawed, must be administered within two hours or discarded.

The stakes outside Moscow and the surrounding area seemed to be going much slower. Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said all regions had started the trial on December 15.

According to the media, that could be issues to scale the production and distribution of medicines. Sputnik V used two adenovirus vectors for the system two doses, which complicates production. In addition, the low temperature requirements for storage and transport complicate their distribution for the huge country.

There are also mixed reports about whether patients they can consume alcohol. Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said vaccinated people should avoid drinking three days before and after of injections.

Several medical workers in Siberia who were vaccinated later reported contracted the virusBut health authorities said not enough time had passed for antibodies to develop.

The author is a journalist for the Associated Press

Vladimir Kondrashov and Anatoly Kozlov in Moscow, and Tatyana Salimova in Tomsk contributed to this report.

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