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Russia offers its untested COVID-19 vaccine for free to UN officials:
On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered UN staff free doses of the country's COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V[*], which has not completed clinical trials for efficacy and has not been thoroughly vetted for safety.
Still, Putin suggested that his offer was prompted by the desire to give the people what they want: "Some colleagues from the UN have asked about this, and we will not remain indifferent to them," he said during a speech Tuesday at this year's (virtual) General Assembly.
Putin made headlines last month after announcing that Russia has granted regulatory approval for the (limited) use of Sputnik V, the first country in the world to do so. He even boasted that one of his daughters had received her first dose of the vaccine.
But public health experts were quickly skeptical of the move, seeing it as merely a political stunt to give the appearance that Russia was "winning" the race to develop a vaccine against the pandemic coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. At the time, the vaccine had only been tested in two small clinical trials, involving just 76 people total—and the data from those small trials had not yet been released.
[...] Sputnik V has now moved into larger trials with tens of thousands of people. These will test whether the vaccine is safe in a larger number of people and actually protects against infection from SARS-CoV-2. But any clear results are months away.
"artificial satellite," extended from the name of the one launched by the Soviet Union Oct. 4, 1957, from Russian sputnik "satellite," literally "traveling companion" (in this use short for sputnik zemlyi, "traveling companion of the Earth")
Previously:
(2020-08-04) Russia Preparing Mass Vaccination Against Coronavirus for October
(Score: 3, Insightful) by legont on Friday September 25 2020, @11:27PM (13 children)
Everybody who worked on the vaccine - from bosses and scientists down to cleaners and security - were vaccinated awhile back. Their families as well.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 25 2020, @11:35PM (3 children)
I don't understand hoomans. Why would you do that without knowing its efficacy and safety? Do you have a citation?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 25 2020, @11:54PM (1 child)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gam-COVID-Vac [wikipedia.org]
I don't see it on here.
If they did do that, maybe the idea is to put pressure on the scientists to get it right.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @01:54AM
That sounds like a wonderful idea. You better work yourself to the bone or you'll die, alone and homeless on the streets. Oh wait, forget about that snark.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @11:52AM
It was a choice between the COVID-vaccine or a similar syringe filled with novichok.
(Score: 1) by jahaven on Saturday September 26 2020, @01:16AM (1 child)
Good. Are they feeling good?
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by legont on Saturday September 26 2020, @02:15AM
Let's just see when Biden the coward will test the American one on his offsprings.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 3, Touché) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday September 26 2020, @02:26AM (5 children)
That's too bad. I couldn't think of a group of people more deserving of being initial medical test subjects than the UN.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @05:52AM (4 children)
Some very fine people work at the UN.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @10:48AM (2 children)
I assume some very fine people work at the UN. Others are rapists [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday September 26 2020, @01:05PM (1 child)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @08:35PM
We sent them John Bolton *snigger*
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday September 28 2020, @05:01PM
Nah, I think we could grind them much finer.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @05:10PM
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Friday September 25 2020, @11:38PM (1 child)
Inject them all, wait 6 months to look for A) efficacy; and B) Side effects.
If both turn out good they Yay Putin! But damned if your injecting that stuff into my aging body until about this time next year.
I came. I saw. I forgot why I came.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @01:56AM
I'm guessing it's Vit-C and saline + senior level correction of the fatality data.
(Score: 3, Funny) by RandomFactor on Friday September 25 2020, @11:51PM (3 children)
Sometimes it happens to be the same as the production environment.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 3, Touché) by MostCynical on Saturday September 26 2020, @12:01AM (1 child)
Call it "beta" and you're done.
(alpha testing didn't immediately kill any of the
prisonersvolunteers)"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Saturday September 26 2020, @12:21AM
Sputnik died after three weeks, fell to earth in a couple months. Great name for a Covid-19 vaccine?
(Score: 2) by loonycyborg on Saturday September 26 2020, @09:51AM
That's called "dogfooding".
(Score: 5, Informative) by Mojibake Tengu on Saturday September 26 2020, @12:35AM (17 children)
Putin's daughter Maria, who is a biologist and even actually worked on this vaccine, took it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Vorontsova [wikipedia.org]
As well as top generals including Sergey Shoygu, a Minister of Defence.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergey_Shoygu [wikipedia.org]
I consider it tested good enough for me.
The edge of 太玄 cannot be defined, for it is beyond every aspect of design
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @12:50AM
Vladimir Vladimirovich... Huilo?
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Saturday September 26 2020, @01:16AM (2 children)
You should wait to see if they start growing three eyes out of their foreheads, and count the fingers and toes on their offspring for the next couple of generations.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by Dr Spin on Saturday September 26 2020, @04:21PM (1 child)
That is for the American vaccine.
The Russian one just turns you communist!
Warning: Opening your mouth may invalidate your brain!
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday September 26 2020, @11:40PM
Nahhh, that's the German vaccine. Thalidomide was a German invention, remember? https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/sep/26/how-harry-evans-took-up-the-long-fight-for-thalidomide-families [theguardian.com]
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by legont on Saturday September 26 2020, @02:17AM (3 children)
It's simply a Russian culture of responsibility. One can't just talk, but has to put her life on the table.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @05:29PM
(Score: 2) by ChrisMaple on Sunday September 27 2020, @01:36AM (1 child)
Ancient Roman engineers were required to live under the bridges they designed.
(Score: 2) by legont on Sunday September 27 2020, @04:56AM
Yep; and our legal system was build upon Roman's. Where did we wonder off toward the cliff...
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Unixnut on Saturday September 26 2020, @07:33AM (4 children)
> I consider it tested good enough for me.
Indeed. Although I can't help to notice how in Russia, the creators of the vaccine, as well as all the leaders, are part of the initial test subjects. Gives them skin in the game, so it better not have any nasty side effects.
On the other hand, on this side of the fence, it seems it is the masses who get to be the initial test subjects, starting from the poorest to the richest (with talk about it being "mandatory").
Our leaders seem to be the second last people on the list to get the vaccine, the last being the creators, who went as far as to demand complete immunity from liability for side effects (they obviously have faith in their vaccine /s).
Given the choice, I prefer the Russian approach to testing. The only way the rich and powerful would risk themselves is if they know the risk is minimal.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @05:40PM (1 child)
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday September 26 2020, @11:43PM
FTFY
Remember, if/when you're cured of the COVID, you still have the rest of your life to live.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Saturday September 26 2020, @08:24PM
Question: Has it been verified that any of these 'important people' in Russia have taken it? I'm just now hearing about this so I'm wondering if anything more substantial than a press-release has come about.
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 3, Informative) by legont on Sunday September 27 2020, @05:00AM
It's way beyond testing. Remember how hyped was Bush's "bravery" for taking well tested small pox vaccine? Come on. Our leaders are cowards.
https://www.cnn.com/2002/US/12/21/bush.smallpox/index.html [cnn.com]
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday September 26 2020, @01:10PM (1 child)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @02:48PM
I wonder what the effect of successfully tricking a population into taking placebo vaccines would be? Lower unrest, quicker economic recovery?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @05:05PM (1 child)
(Score: 2) by legont on Sunday September 27 2020, @05:03AM
That's another reason Russian scientists including Putin's daughter took the vaccine. They routinely work with live cultures so they want protection.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by Rupert Pupnick on Saturday September 26 2020, @12:46AM
Sure, I’d take that shot, but please hold the Novichuk.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Saturday September 26 2020, @12:46AM (2 children)
it might contain traces of polonium or Novichok.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @12:55AM
It's the UN, [unwatch.org] we should all encourage them to try the Trump vaccine. [clorox.com]
They already had a taste [youtube.com]
(Score: 2) by EETech1 on Saturday September 26 2020, @08:25AM
Exactly... They're professional biological weapons designers!
I'm pretty sure they're good at making antidotes, and vaccinations for their nasties too!
(Score: 4, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Saturday September 26 2020, @12:59AM (3 children)
The whole thing is a ploy. You take the "vaccine" and you get a mild headache that lasts for a week or so. Then, every time you hear the Russian national anthem, you stand rigidly at attention, until the anthem finishes. Then you recite "Praise Putin" or some such. Russia gets global domination, because every other country packages up their military hardware, including nukes, and ships it all to Russia. Every child in the world will have to be vaccinated before starting elementary school, with biannual boosters until they reach age 70.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by fustakrakich on Saturday September 26 2020, @01:20AM (2 children)
Yeah, like you're not *standing for the Queen* in the morning...
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @02:50PM (1 child)
Offtopic
Hmm, hard to tell who got more offended, a Russiagator, or a Freddy Mercury fan
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @06:05PM
Runaway, who no longer gets erections and is offended by the reminder of impotence?
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @02:01AM (1 child)
Why? Feel salty that Russia is first to the starting line?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday September 26 2020, @01:14PM
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Sulla on Saturday September 26 2020, @02:03AM (6 children)
Why all the buttmad? I hope the Russian vaccine works, hopefully several of them work. The more working vaccines we get out of this the better position we will be in if it mutates. If/when it mutates I would rather have ten vaccines that need modification to hopefully work than one or two.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @02:26AM (1 child)
What? No really, what?
"which has not completed clinical trials for efficacy and has not been thoroughly vetted for safety.
......
But public health experts were quickly skeptical of the move, seeing it as merely a political stunt to give the appearance that Russia was "winning" the race to develop a vaccine against the pandemic coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. At the time, the vaccine had only been tested in two small clinical trials, involving just 76 people total—and the data from those small trials had not yet been released.
[...] Sputnik V has now moved into larger trials with tens of thousands of people. These will test whether the vaccine is safe in a larger number of people and actually protects against infection from SARS-CoV-2. But any clear results are months away."
OH MY GOD SUCH NEGATIVITY WHY ARE PEOPLE SO MEAAAAANNNN???
Truly I never thought I'd see US conservatives bending over so frequently for Russia, weren't they the ones Reagan fought against? Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to see the cold war nationalism and propaganda dying down a bit, but it is still some weird shit to see from Republicans.
Medical experts advising caution and further testing over a vaccine that has only been used on 76 people? Do you realize what would happen if we rolled that out in the US and it didn't work as well as advertised? Everyone would stop taking precautions and we would have an explosion of COVID infections that really would shut down the economy.
So stop acting like children and listen to the doctors. Or if you think that is some kind of tyranny don't listen, just stop whinging to everyone else about it.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @08:23AM
Not only that, but this uses an rAd5 and rAd26 vector. The reason why the two shots have to use different vectors is simple, you develop immunity to the vector and then it doesn't work anymore until an indeterminate time in the future that could be on the order of years. This means that if you get this one and it doesn't work, you may not be able to get one that works in the future and uses a similar vector. Additionally, you may already be immune to the vectors, as happened to other vaccine and gene therapy candidates. Those are some of the reasons why many are going to alternatives to the common Adenoviruses instead of using one based on Ad5 or Ad26.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @05:17PM (2 children)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @08:39PM (1 child)
Well nobody disproved it. Your opinion is as good as mine. I'll take the Russian cure and if I don't die, you'll be the idiot. Plus I'm drinking small amounts of bleach. Who are you to say what people should do in the free world.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday September 26 2020, @11:47PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 27 2020, @09:12AM
Because RUSSIANS!!!
More seriously, the vaccine approval was a joke but in reality they are actually doing Phase 3 trials in Moscow with this vaccine now. The approval was political and I guess because they have nothing else to fall back on anyway. But the science is still being done correctly and there are no millions of doses available anyway. So now it either works and you are good or it doesn't work and you are fucked as before.
TBH, the approval is exactly what Trump wants to do anyway. Before the election so he can say how great he is even if science is not done. Putin just indicated Trump what to do to get a few more votes so he can dispute elections when he loses.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by legont on Saturday September 26 2020, @02:24AM (8 children)
Putin's daughter took the vaccine not because she is a daughter of the leader, but because she worked on it. She made it so she got to take the risk before others. The US prefer to test on African blacks.
Shoigu took the vaccine not because he wanted safety, but because he is the head of the military. He has to lead his solders and will have no respect if he did not. The US Chief in command prefer hiding.
That's the difference that will make the difference when the day comes.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 4, Touché) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday September 26 2020, @02:33AM (3 children)
That's not entirely inaccurate but it is absolutely misleading. Vitamin D deficiency has been extremely well linked to severity of symptoms, all that melanin means black folks get a lot less Vitamin D from the sun, which means symptoms are much worse on average, which means a their representation in the "viable test subjects" demographic is way, way larger than their representation in the population.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @05:56AM (1 child)
Which is why They should work in the fields like in the Olden Dayes.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @02:54PM
Yeah, put those darkies in the fields! For their own good!
(Score: 2) by legont on Sunday September 27 2020, @05:10AM
Let's see the whole Clinton clan take an American vaccine and then discuss.
BTW, is Chelsea with kids still in Manhattan or hiding in a bunker? I wanna go meet her at a bar nearby.
I bet it's a bunker though.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @03:24AM
How will it make a difference?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @07:37AM (2 children)
Just because propaganda says they took it doesn't mean it actually happened.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @05:22PM (1 child)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 26 2020, @08:40PM
And even if they took it and it does work, well fuck me. I have no clue.
(Score: 2) by stormwyrm on Saturday September 26 2020, @04:35PM (6 children)
The "testing" that has been done on Sputnik V so far provides no evidence whatsoever that it is effective at preventing COVID-19. They can crow all they want about how they've given the vaccine to people like Putin's own daughter and top generals and the Minister of Defence but that doesn't tell you that the vaccine will actually work. That's just blatant political posturing. At most it says that the vaccine probably won't make you sick or kill you if you take it. But if it's ineffective, and you start relaxing all of the mask-wearing and social distancing stuff because you have been deceived into thinking it's effective, that sounds like a good way to get a lot of people sick and killed.
The only thing that can tell us whether the vaccine actually is effective is a Phase III clinical trial. Until there is a peer-reviewed scientific paper detailing the successful trial of the Sputnik V vaccine and it satisfies the experts at the various regulatory agencies around the world, I'd be very wary of it. Yes, they're working on Phase III clinical trials [clinicaltrials.gov] but those studies won't be completed until at least May 2021. And even then, I'd still be sceptical. The paper describing the phase I trials [thelancet.com] published recently has come under scrutiny, with an open letter [cattiviscienziati.com] asking for missing data and explanation for suspicious patterns in the data that are available. I have no idea why so many people out here are so desperate for a vaccine that they'd take the word of Vladimir Putin of all people!
Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday September 26 2020, @11:54PM (5 children)
What's the solution? Do we launch a fleet of drones, and stalk Putin's daughter for the next 20 years? I hope the hell she's a good looker, I don't want to see some butt ugly broad in the news feeds six times a day.
https://www.gulte.com/videos/19295/watch-putins-daughter-gets-first-covid-19-vaccine [gulte.com]
Well, at least she's not a phat American heifer. Is that the right masked woman?
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by stormwyrm on Sunday September 27 2020, @02:31AM (2 children)
Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 27 2020, @09:20AM (1 child)
As I already wrote elsewhere, they ARE doing the clinical trials.
https://tass.com/society/1194487 [tass.com]
And as I said elsewhere, they have nothing to fall back on (no other vaccines) AND they have limited manufacturing capabilities of the vaccine now so .... it's not like the vaccine will be given to half of Russia by end of the year. It will not.
Approval was a political stunt but it's a gamble and they don't have plan B anyway. Effectiveness is being measured now and then they will either make more of the vaccine or bin it.
Hope this explains that Russians are not madmen or idiots. But the dealer just dealt, they are all in and no one knows what the cards on the table are. You can't do this in America or EU or Canada because you have 10s of vaccines (players) and you don't know who will have the best card. The *choice* prevents going all in on any one of them. This choice doesn't exist for the Russians.
(Score: 2) by stormwyrm on Sunday September 27 2020, @02:52PM
Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday September 27 2020, @03:08AM (1 child)
Oh, that's not Putin's daughter in the video. Putin has two daughters, neither of them even resembles that black haired young woman. Mehhhh . . .
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 27 2020, @04:18AM
This seems to be what Maria Vladimirovna Vorontsova (née Putina) looks like:
https://static.themoscowtimes.com/image/1360/59/sfrbvaefr.jpg [themoscowtimes.com]
https://justrichest.com/wp-content/uploads/mariya-putina-main-640x455.jpg [justrichest.com]
She's not such a big looker but I'd not call her butt-ugly either.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 27 2020, @06:14AM (1 child)
There are three countries developing vaccines that I won't touch for love nor money: Russia, China, and the United States. If and when South Korea or Norway come out with one, sure, sign me up, but I value my health too much to recklessly risk it on snake oil.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 27 2020, @09:24AM
https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/24-08-2020-172-countries-and-multiple-candidate-vaccines-engaged-in-covid-19-vaccine-global-access-facility [who.int]
The full list of CEPI-supported candidate vaccines is as follows:
Inovio, United States of America (Phase I/II)
Moderna, United States of America (Phase III)
CureVac, Germany (Phase I)
Institut Pasteur/Merck/Themis, France/ United States of America /Austria (Preclinical)
AstraZeneca/University of Oxford, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Phase III)
University of Hong Kong, China (Preclinical)
Novavax, United States of America (Phase I/II)
Clover Biopharmaceuticals, China (Phase I)
University of Queensland/CSL, Australia (Phase I)
So it's rather sad that you call AstraZeneca "American" and that is the most advanced vaccine in trials as of now. But maybe in America there is only America and then the Russia and China and the rest is all the Mexicans poors to north and south and Mexicans in Europe....