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Roland99

(53,342 posts)
Fri Nov 13, 2020, 12:17 PM Nov 2020

Whatever happened to that Russian Covid vaccine???

Russia’s claim of a successful COVID-19 vaccine doesn’t pass the ‘smell test,’ critics say
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/11/russia-s-claim-successful-covid-19-vaccine-doesn-t-pass-smell-test-critics-say

Another day, another promising COVID-19 vaccine? A Russian institute announced today its vaccine candidate has had remarkable success in an efficacy trial, just 2 days after the widely celebrated news from Pfizer and BioNTech that their vaccine had greater than 90% efficacy. The Russian report, however, is being met with raised eyebrows—and some outright guffaws.

In a press release, the Gamaleya National Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology in Moscow said an interim analysis of a large-scale trial underway in Russia had found 92% efficacy for its “Sputnik V” vaccine. The release quoted the Russian minister of health saying the results demonstrate that Sputnik V “is an efficient solution to stop the spread of coronavirus infection.” Yet it also noted the review covered just 20 total COVID-19 cases in the vaccinated and placebo groups—far too few for the claim be convincing, experts inside and outside of Russia say.

In contrast, they note, Pfizer and BioNTech analyzed 94 cases to make their efficacy claim, and other vaccinemakers plan to wait for at least 50 or more COVID-19 cases to accumulate in a trial to assess a candidate’s worth. “It’s very difficult to explain [the Gamaleya] announcement,” says Svetlana Zavidova, a Moscow-based lawyer who heads Russia’s Association of Clinical Trials Organizations and closely follows COVID-19 vaccine R&D in the country. “I’m afraid they looked at the results of Pfizer and added 2%.”

The claims don’t pass “the smell test,” adds Wayne Koff, who heads the nonprofit Human Vaccines Project, which is attempting to improve the design of future vaccines. (The Gamaleya media contact on the press release did not reply to Science’s request for an interview.)



FWIW, Russia's new cases and new reports of deaths are both at record highs and still rising

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/russia/
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Whatever happened to that Russian Covid vaccine??? (Original Post) Roland99 Nov 2020 OP
I just heard recently that it was failing; Greybnk48 Nov 2020 #1
RDIF AND GL RAPHA (HANKOOK KORUS) AGREE TO PRODUCE OVER 150 MILLION DOSES OF THE SPUTNIK V VACCINE Klaralven Nov 2020 #2
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