As early as June, the Russian government announced that scientists had succeeded in developing a vaccine that should be the much-needed response to the pandemic. In the Boerdenko military hospital, a clinical trial began with 38 participants.
Sputnik V was registered at the beginning of August, although no large-scale tests, the so-called third test phase, had yet taken place. That haste brought Russia to heavy international criticism. The Russians would ignore due diligence requirements out of prestige considerations, especially to be the first to market a vaccine.
Nevertheless, the first test results were published in the authoritative medical journal The Lancet. The conclusion: all 38 participants had developed antibodies against the coronavirus and in one case only minor side effects were reported. And again there was criticism. The study showed “highly unlikely” results and the statistics raised questions, an international group of scientists wrote in an open letter. But all the original data and the full investigation protocol had been submitted to The Lancet, investigative leader Denis Logunov responded, so he said there was no cause for concern.
The medical director of Polyclinic 68, Natalia Kuzankova, understands that there are people who are concerned. “The first tests for the vaccine have indeed been done very quickly,” she says. “But the speed is dictated by the situation we are in: the great danger of spreading the corona virus.”
‘Guinea pig’ laconically
‘Guinea pig’ Foerstejn is laconic about it. “I understand that the vaccine has not yet been fully tested in all the ways it needs to be. But it does exist, and then if you have a chance to use it, don’t let it go.”
Kuzankova assures that the test results will be internationally verified as required, so there is no danger of a useless or even dangerous vaccine coming onto the market. This would entail enormous risks, all the more so since many countries have already expressed an interest in Sputnik V. “But if our tests are successful, then we sincerely hope that our lives will return to normal,” says Kuzankova. “Using this vaccine.”
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