Russia claims to have ‘public use’ COVID-19 vaccine
MOSCOW — Russia’s version of America’s Operation Warp Speed vaccine project is located far from the Kremlin on a sleepy side street on the outskirts of Moscow.
Tucked in a sandy-brick building with an office advertising medical tests and a dingy wooden door, it doesn’t look like a cuttingedge medical laboratory. But it was here that, if you believe President Vladimir Putin, Russia won the global race to develop a vaccine against COVID-19.
Praising the developers at the state-run Gamaleya National Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Putin declared in August that Russia had registered a shot for public use, making it the first vaccine worldwide to gain such clearance. Russia named it Sputnik V after the Sovietera satellite that set off the space race in 1957 — a clear signal of the geopolitical importance Putin has attached to the project.
The president’s live-TV announcement glossed over one key point. Russia approved the vaccine after tests in fewer than 80 people, with larger trials needed to assess safety and effectiveness just underway. Putin’s claim of victory has met with skepticism and disapproval from health experts in the West, where shots will have to be tested in tens of thousands of subjects before being cleared.
The vaccine will be ready for wide distribution late this year or early next, officials say. That’s roughly the same schedule as shots from rivals in the U.S., U.K. and China. Initial results from final-stage studies won’t be ready until November, with full data expected next year.
“Overall I’d say Russia is a little bit behind the leading Western candidates,” said Rasmus Bech Hansen, CEO of Airfinity Ltd., a London-based company that tracks COVID-19 vaccine and drug development, “but not far behind.”
Putin’s August announcement has already delivered one key result for the Kremlin: It put Russia’s previously under-theradar vaccine efforts on the map, triggering a rush of requests from governments around the world to buy or produce the shot. By late September, the head of the state fund backing the project said it had orders for 1.2 billion doses.
“We did a survey in 12 key countries and name recognition for Sputnik is 80%,” Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, said in an interview. “But it’s not PR. We’re trying to save people.” He says Sputnik is three to four months ahead of rivals.
With the fourth-largest number of cases in the world but per capita healthcare spending far lower than in most Western countries, Russia needs a vaccine. Facing a spike in cases, Moscow has joined other European capitals in tightening restrictions. Russian labs are working on another two dozen candidates.