Presentation Russia’s new vaccine

Quizz :

1) What is the name of the journalist ?

2) Where is the vaccine from ?
3) When was the vaccine approved ?
4) What is the name of the vaccine ?
5) How many shots should be administred ?
6) How long do we have to wait between each dose ?
7) What is the composition of the vaccine ?
8) What is the role of phases I and II : Safety, Efficacy, Vitality, Mortality
9) Has the vaccine been through all the tests ?
10) Why is the population afraid of the vaccine ?

Our presentation is about the article Russia’s new vaccine. It was published on the 22 of August
2020 in the magazine New Scientist. Our article is an interview written by the science journalist
Michael Marshall about a new vaccine developped in Russia called Sputnik V.

The article relates that :

Russia has released an « untested » vaccine that may cause serious side effects. Michael Marshall
is asking many questions about this new vaccine, for example what do we know about the
vaccine, what tests has it been through…

First, we know that the Russian president Vladimir Putin has announced on the 11 of August 2020
that Russia has approved a coronavirus vaccine called Sputnik V that is apparently safe and effective.

This announcement has caused a global concern for the immunologists because it seems that Russia
was cutting corners about this decision.

Sputnik V has been developped by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and
Microbiology in Moscow. The vaccine would be administered in 2 shots, 21 days apart. It contains
modified adenoviruses. Both shots have been given the gene for the spike protein from covid-19.

The purpose is to prime the immune system before an real encounter with the virus, if it happens.

Before the approvation of a vaccine, it needs to been through 3 phases of trials : the phase I and II to
prove the safety and efficacy of the vaccine and also the last phase : the phase III to prove that it
actually protects against infection.

Sputnik V has been through phases I and II of the trials : indeed there were no adverse effects and
the vaccine triggered a desired immune response.

The problem is that Sputnik V didn’t go through phase III of the trial : indeed, even if the vaccine
might trigger an immune response in phase II, it doesn’t mean that it will be enough to confer a real
immunity in phase III.
Furthermore, people know that there were no adverse effects but concretly no detailed results have
been released.

People are afraid of this vaccine due to the lack of transparence, it’s difficult to have confidence in
the vaccine. Russia have already planned to start mass vaccination in October 2020 before going
through the last phase of the trials. Without going through phase III of the trial, we don’t know how
safe the vaccine is and also if it works.

The principal risk of this vaccine is that it may cause serious side effects. Also, it may not provide
protection against the coronavirus. The consequence is that people who are taking this vaccine
believe themselves to be immune when they aren’t. The result is that the virus continue to spread
and it cause many more deaths. The government already has to deal with the anti-vaccine
movement’s who is saying that existing vaccines are dangerous. The release of Sputnik V can
exacerbate the problem.

Nowadays, Sputnik V ended going through all the phases of the trials but the results aren’t
recognized in the European Union. Globally, there’s no international recognition of Sputnik V.
Inspectors had identified problems with manufacturing process monitoring and quality control data.
Also, there are doubts about the efficacy of the vaccine.