DISPATCHES FROM MOON OF ALABAMA, BY "B"
This article is part of an ongoing series of dispatches from Moon of Alabama
After President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia's Covid-19 vaccine candidate had gained an approval from its regulator, 'western' media went into a anti-Russian frenzy to sow fear and doubt about it.
- Russia coronavirus vaccine approved, Vladimir Putin says. But questions over its safety remain
- We have no idea if the Russian Covid vaccine is safe or effective
- Russia's coronavirus vaccine rush has 'high risk' of backfiring: CSIS
- German health minister says he's sceptical about Russian COVID-19 vaccine
- Russia Approves Coronavirus Vaccine Before Completing Tests
- 'Reckless and foolish': Why Russia's vaccine has experts alarmed
- Russia claims a win in the vaccine race. But would you take a vaccine from Vladimir Putin?
- Russia Coronavirus Vaccine, Given to Putin's Daughter, Not on WHO List of 6 Candidates in Phase 3 Trials
- Fauci says he 'seriously doubts' that Russia has developed a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine after Putin approved of the world's first vaccine
All the above, just as this one, are based on a willful misinterpretation of the Russian announcement:
Russia has become the first country in the world to approve a vaccine for the coronavirus, President Vladimir V. Putin announced on Tuesday, though global health authorities say the vaccine has yet to complete critical, late-stage clinical trials to determine its safety and effectiveness.
Mr. Putin, who told a cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning that the vaccine “works effectively enough,” said that his own daughter had taken it. And in a congratulatory note to the nation, he thanked the scientists who developed the vaccine for “this first, very important step for our country, and generally for the whole world.”
...
By skipping large-scale clinical trials, the Russian dash for a vaccine has raised widespread concern that it is circumventing vital steps — and potentially endangering people — in order to score global propaganda points.
BUT: Russia has not approved a vaccine against Covid-19 and it is not skipping large-scale clinical trials.
The Russia regulator gave a preliminary approval for a vaccine candidate to start the large-scale clinical trial. This is similar to an emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Science Magazine is one of the few media who got it right:
In a startling and confusing move, Russia claimed today it had approved the world’s first COVID-19 vaccine, as the nation’s Ministry of Health issued what’s called a registration certificate for a vaccine candidate that has been tested in just 76 people. The certificate allows the vaccine, developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology in Moscow, to be given to “a small number of citizens from vulnerable groups,” including medical staff and the elderly, a Ministry of Health spokesperson tells ScienceInsider. But the certificate stipulates that the vaccine cannot be used widely until 1 January 2021, presumably after larger clinical trials have been completed.
...
A website for Sputnik V says a phase III efficacy trial involving more than 2000 people will begin on 12 August in Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, and Mexico. Mass production of the vaccine is slated to begin in September.
The Russian vaccine candidate is based on two variants of the human adenovirus which can cause the common cold. These viruses have also been used in other reliable vaccines. Their DNA has been modified to include the building plan for the spike protein that allows SARS-CoV-2 to enter human cells. When the modified adenovirus is applied it induces human cells to create the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. That then sets off the immune system which will develop specific anti-bodies (IdG) and memory cells (T-cells) against the spike protein. Should the immunized person later get infected with SARS-CoV-2 its immune system will be ready to defeat the virus.
The Russian vaccine candidate is administered in two shots. The primary one is based on a modified adenovirus-26. A secondary shot, three weeks later, is based on a modified adenovirus-5. Two different types of the virus are used because some people are already immune against some of its variants. The second shot is supposed to boost the immune response.
Science Magazine notes that there is some concern about the efficiency of the second shot:
Some vaccine experts have raised concerns about COVID-19 vaccines that use adenovirus 5 in this way. In 2007, researchers stopped an HIV vaccine trial that used adenovirus 5 to shuttle in the gene for the surface protein of that virus after they found that it increased the likelihood of its transmission.
Several of the other vaccines candidates that are currently undergoing testing also rely on a modified adenovirus. The vaccine candidate developed by the British Jenner Institute in Oxford together with AstraZeneca uses one that usually infects chimpanzees.
The Russian vaccine candidate will, like all others, have to go through the now announced third trial phase before it will get any general approval.
There is no excuse for the media to wrongly claim that Russia has approved a ready to go vaccine. The Sputnik Vaccine website explains in seven languages that the third trial phase of the clinical trials is still to come.
Posted by b on August 12, 2020 at 9:16 UTC | Permalink
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Can anyone explain why Oxford University researchers are using a chimpanzee adenovirus as the vector for the COVID-19 vaccine while the Russian vaccine being developed by the Gamaleya Center uses two human adenoviruses? Is the use of other primates' adenoviruses as vectors for vaccines intended for humans nothing more than over 60 years of custom or was there ever real value in using other animals' viral material to create vaccines?
One is reminded of old stories about the use of rhesus monkey kidney cells to create cultures to cultivate polio vaccines. Some of these cultures were contaminated with simian virus 40 which is known to cause brain tumours in some animals species though no humans so far have ever come down with simian virus 40 or cancers caused by that virus.
Posted by: Hor, Jennifer | Aug 12 2020 12:25 utc | 10
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"b" is Moon of Alabama's founding (and chief) editor. This site's purpose is to discuss politics, economics, philosophy and blogger Billmon's Whiskey Bar writings. Moon Of Alabama was opened as an independent, open forum for members of the Whiskey Bar community. Bernhard )"b") started and still runs the site. Once in a while you will also find posts and art from regular commentators. You can reach the current administrator of this site by emailing Bernhard at MoonofA@aol.com. 
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
They know they are lying.
The WaPo article uses as its only source for Russia's alleged "propaganda" a guy from an American foreign policy think tank. Well, why don't quote a specialist?
They also mention that the WHO website doesn't mention the vaccine as approved. This is normal, as the WHO website is slow on its updates (even the number of dead is delayed). That's why the Hopkins site was so popular for tracking the number of dead.
Also, Putin never stated the vaccine was "approved"; he clearly used the word "registered". The Health Minister's speech also included the information that the 3rd phase was starting the moment he's speaking.
The WaPo also quotes some doctors stating they "don't know nothing about this Russian vaccine". Well, no wonder, as the research will only be published next month (as was also stated with the registration announcement). The American doctors also probably didn't even bother to search for the Russian findings. And this also explains why the WHO still doesn't approve the Russian vaccine for use, as the research still isn't published.
The fact that the vaccine was "rushed" should also not be surprising for the West. Not long ago, they were propagandizing the fact that we would have a vaccine by January precisely because of the fact that, among other things, the WHO had given its tacit blessing to accelerate the protocol - among other things, by cutting corners in the trial phases. I remember the Western MSM being very enthusiastic about it, and, some days ago, Bloomberg even published an article about an Indian billionaire already building the line of production to mass produce the still not ready Oxford vaccine. The billionaire himself called it "a bet". All of a sudden, this enthusiasm is gone. Why is that?
Besides the obvious geopolitical reasons (Russophobia, etc.), there may be economic ones. In his famous "forbidden op-ed", Kirill Dmitriev stated that:
The probable case is that the USA is pouring billions of USD in companies that are going all-in in unproven (and very dangerous) technologies because they want a vaccine that can be patented and thus charge its weight in gold to other countries. My bet is the USA sees the prospect of a new vaccine as an opportunity to mitigate its huge trade deficit with the rest of the world. This came at the cost of losing a lot of time (and money).
The companies which are working with an adenoviral vaccine - Oxford, J&J and CanSino - simply have inferior know-how:
Note that, even though they are inferior to Gamaleya, they are still bound to receive billions of USD in vaccines by their respective governments. The point is that we're in a desperate situation: we only need a vaccine that works, not a miraculous silver bullet that will eradicate the virus once and for all.
One can explain why CanSino has inferior know-how, but why are Oxford and J&J - two big companies (and yes, I consider Oxford a company nowadays) - inferior to Gamaleya? Dmitriev answers that himself:
That is: Big Pharma wasted decades in vaccine research (and thus lost know-how) simply because it was not profitable. Diseases that can be eradicated with one or two shots (and only affect poor people) doesn't concern Big Pharma. This is not surprising, as capitalism is a system that exclusively operates for profit, not for human needs.
Posted by: vk | Aug 12 2020 12:05 utc | 8