Putin: I have Covid cure
He hails jab.. but scientists warn on tests
VLADIMIR Putin last night claimed victory in the race for the first coronavirus vaccine – and said he has given it to one of his daughters. The Russian premier said it offers two years of immunity and claimed his daughter had developed antibodies with sideeffects no worse than a high temperature. Putin, 67, said: “I would like to repeat that it has passed all the necessary tests. “The most important thing is to ensure full safety of using the vaccine and its efficiency.”
The Kremlin chief has two adult daughters, Mariya and Yekaterina, but it is not known which of them had the Sputnik V jab. Officials said 20 countries had ordered a billion doses of the vaccine, which will go into production next month with possible mass injections in Russia by October.
But experts warn they have no way of knowing whether it is safe because large-scale Phase 3 tests – which usually take months – have not been carried out.
The World Health Organisation, which has not approved the injection, says all vaccines should go through full testing before being rolled out. Danny Altmann, professor of immunology at Imperial College London, warned: “The collateral damage from release of any vaccine that was less than safe and effective would exacerbate our current problems insurmountably.
“While information on the vast majority of the vaccines and trial protocols in the world have been made available, there seems to be rather little detail thus far on the Russian candidates.
“The bar is necessarily set very high for criteria that must be satisfied for approval after Phase 3 clinical trials.”
Dr Michael Head, of the University of Southampton, said it was “unclear precisely what is actually happening with the Russian vaccine”.
He added: “At this point in time, there is no data on the Russian-led vaccine for the global health community to scrutinise.”
Dr Ayfer Ali, a specialist in drug research at Warwick Business School, said fast approvals can lead to serious but rare adverse
effects being missed. Russia was also accused of hacking Western vaccine research by Britain, the US and Canada last month.
In the UK, 102 new deaths have been reported, with the total who died in hospitals, care homes and the community after testing positive rising to 46,628 as of Monday.
The UK has the fourth highest total of coronavirus deaths in the world, after the US, Brazil and Mexico.