The concerns about Sputnik are geopolitical in nature
Not entirely. Their politicians boasted about it being the world's first "registered" vaccine a month before its Phase III trial started, that was an own goal completely of their making. It was only months later where they were able to finish their Phase III trial with very good results, but a few weeks behind the two mRNA vaccines.
They all went through at least phase III, even Russia's Sputnik vaccine (even though they announced it as a success before they had their phase III completed).
Am Russian, am vaccinated with Sputnik V, would do it again. Yes, the study was rushed and details were missing, but, eventually, all things got in order.
And it's a real working vaccine, effects of which I see basically every day on my friends.
The Russian Sputnik V vaccine is as effective as the Western ones. Fr all its flaws the Soviet Union was a scientific, educational and health giant, and its successor Russian state still is. The Sinopec (Chinese) one is only about 60-70% effective, on the other hand, and unless given away for free, it's hard to understand why any country would want it.
The concerns about Sputnik are geopolitical in nature (weakening the sanctions regime against Russia for its doings in Ukraine, and the persecution of Navalny), not sanitary ones.
Yep. We've got double jabbed relatives from Argentina that are barred from travel because Sputnik V isn't approved. Yet it's one of the most effective vaccines out there.
Nice summary. Also explains why sputnik the vaccine from Russia was developed so quickly and was effective. Traditional vaccines work.
As for why they stifled production and roll out is another matter entirely, maybe mass production was difficult/expensive when there is a mad dash for reagents.
I'm not making a statement on it being better or lasting longer and in all honesty there is little data to prove that one way or the other.
Well, their previous 'Sputnik', the Google alternative (sputnik.ru) failed miserably, so they're trying another one. And besides Chinese vaccine was first.
No, Sputnik V is a Vector vaccine just like AstraZeneca and Johnson&Johnson. There are several ones in development in China which all seem to be based on more "old school" technologies.
In terms of development they seem to be pretty far behind. As far as I know, none of the Russian or Chinese efforts have published serious data about safety and efficacy yet. According to publically available data, the vast majority of vaccinations done so far used European/American mRNA vaccines [1].
> The tech is great, but aren’t China and Russia deploying more standard replication deficient viruses as vaccines?
The Sinovac and Sputnik vaccines are both less effective and have had serious adverse events in their trials. Sputnik hadn't even entered phase 3 trials and they rolled it out. The mRNA vaccines will be the first to pass the bar of FDA approval by a wide margin.
All of those vaccines were created within weeks of the genetic sequence being released. The release dates you are referring to is only about regulatory oversight. Countries like the US and EU (and a long list of others) where Pfizer and Moderna targeted their sales are very careful to not allow the release of anything until they have evidence it works and is safe. For Sputnik V they released it before being sure it worked - which allowed them to release much faster, but there is a reason the rest of the world cried foul - even countries with few regulations didn't allow it to be used until more study was done - study that takes time.
Apologies, I meant the CanSino vaccine. Russia's Sputnik vaccine also utilizes adenovirus and I regard Russia as having one of the world's finest medical institutions.
Russians started to clean up evidence, which points to BSL4 lab "Vector".
IMHO, this article is a part of their disinformation campaign. The name of their vaccine "Sputnik V" (Follower 5) suggests that there was "Something","Sputnik I", "Sputnik II", "Sputnik III", "Sputnik IV" before "Sputnik V".
It's impossible for Russians to produce 5 vaccines in row in such short span of time, just few months, which took billions of dollars and year of time for western companies.
IMHO, Russians started developing of their vaccine since SARS-CoV-1 outbreak in 2003.
Does anyone have a good link for the current status of the Gamaleya (Sputnik V) vaccine? I’ve been hearing and reading a lot of FUD about it, but if you were to take the (self reported) stats in this BBC article at face value it looks like one of the best options.
But really, despite a lot of pejorative language in there -- “Once they have this relationship, they can extort whatever they want” -- it just sounds like the same strategy the UK has been attempting (both politically, and in terms of vaccine development and approval), except the Russian version sounds more successful so far.
Edit to add: apologies in advance for dragging politics into this! But it seems like politics and vaccines are unfortunately intertwined.
I was shocked to discover, several months after the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were approved in America and trumpeted as proof of the speed and efficacy of our modern, capitalist medical system... that the Sinopharm and Sputnik V vaccines were both released much earlier, and they actually work very well.
The Sputnik adenovirus vaccine is easier to manufacture and they are allowing some countries to install their own capacity. I don't know if they improved the accuracy of their tests, they were kinda sketchy when they announced it.
The PR and marketing is not targeting the US for some reason, maybe because they think no one will want a "Russian" vaccine in the US or maybe because it's more expensive... but in other countries it's going to be "the" vaccine, so I hope it works.
Not entirely. Their politicians boasted about it being the world's first "registered" vaccine a month before its Phase III trial started, that was an own goal completely of their making. It was only months later where they were able to finish their Phase III trial with very good results, but a few weeks behind the two mRNA vaccines.
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