An underwhelming Sputnik moment

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement that Russia has approved the world’s first Covid-19 vaccine should have evoked sighs of relief worldwide. With over 20 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 and over 750,000 deaths so far worldwide, the availability of a vaccine should have triggered celebrations across the world. That it has not speaks volumes of the deeply flawed nature of the trial procedures that the vaccine has been subjected to before the Russian announcement. Any vaccine, indeed any medicine, has to go through crucial Phase 3 trials before it is made available for general public use. It is during this vital phase that the vaccine is administered to thousands of people to check whether a large enough sample of people develops immunity to the virus without intolerable side effects. Sputnik-V – Russia’s claimed Covid-19 vaccine – has not been put through this phase. Nor has Russia released data on the “combined Phase 1 and 2 trials” that it conducted. Apparently, the Russian scientists who developed the vaccine as well as Putin’s own daughter have been vaccinated with Sputnik-V and are doing well. Putin has not provided solid data backing his claim that the vaccine works. It is alarming that an untested vaccine is being promoted by the head of a state.

If the vaccine does prove to be effective, it would be a major and exciting breakthrough in the world’s fight against Covid-19. Since the pandemic’s outbreak, researchers around the world have been working to develop a vaccine against it. Over 165 vaccines are under development, some 30 of them in human trials. If Sputnik-V proves effective, it would be a huge victory for Russian scientific achievement. Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Russia’s stature has declined in almost every field; a successful vaccine would give its global image a boost.

That few in the world are convinced by Putin’s claims lays bare the little credibility that he and his establishment evoke in the eyes of the world. The rush to win the global vaccine race appears to have prompted him to jump the gun and announce the vaccine to the world without following due procedure. Other countries, India and the US included, have sought to push their national medical authorities to advance vaccine-related announcements to meet political timetables. This is irresponsible. If Sputnik-V is not the vaccine it is touted to be, Putin will be risking the lives of millions of people, in Russia and around the world. We may have a bigger tsunami of Covid-19 infections, as well as a vaccine that might be not just ineffective but also harmful.