International [Russian COVID/Vaccine News] Moscow Locked Down Again as Daily COVID Deaths Jumped To Highest Ever.

Unfortunate so many suffer due to the lack of leadership getting people any form of vaccine.

The most unfortunate part is that the pickle they're in now is very much a human problem of their own making, one that is much more difficult to fix than technical ones.

Sputnik V is effective, and it's absolutely bizarre that the home of Sputnik V has fallen far behind their own customers that they're exporting to - something that does not happen to any other vaccine providers, be it the U.S, Britain, Germany, or even China.

 
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I'm waiting for Putin to call it China virus that would be great. Unfortunate so many suffer due to the lack of leadership getting people any form of vaccine.
Well, if comrade Xi calls COVID like that first then you might hear that a week later Putin does that too.
 
Study Shows Russia’s Sputnik V 81% Effective Against COVID Hospitalization
By Olga Dobrovidova | Aug. 26, 2021
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Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine is holding up well against the Delta variant, a paper posted yesterday on the preprint server medRxiv shows. The study of nearly 14,000 people showed the two-dose vaccine reduces the risk of hospitalization with COVID-19 by 81% and helped prevent severe lung injury.

Surges of COVID-19 in many countries and an increasing number of “breakthrough” cases in vaccinated people have raised concerns that vaccines don’t protect as well against Delta as against earlier strains, or that vaccines’ protection may be short-lived. Israeli data on breakthrough infections point to limited protection offered by messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines; however, a recent study of the Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca vaccines found the two were largely effective against Delta.

Like other cities in Russia, St. Petersburg has set up triage centers, where patients with a confirmed SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis and COVID-19 symptoms receive a brief physical examination and a low-dose computed tomography (CT) scan of their lungs to determine whether they need hospitalization. A team led by epidemiologist Anton Barchuk of the European University at St. Petersburg asked doctors at two such centers to inquire about patients’ vaccination status. (They did not ask which of the vaccines available in Russia a patient had received, but government data suggest about 96% of vaccine recipients in St. Petersburg got Sputnik V.) The analysis included 13,894 patients, 1291 of whom were fully vaccinated. Of the participants, 495 were referred to hospital.

Sputnik V offered completely vaccinated patients—who had had their second shot at least 2 weeks before coming to the triage center—81% protection against being hospitalized, the study found. (The effectiveness was slightly better in women than in men, 84% versus 76%.) The study included too few people to detect a statistically significant benefit of partial vaccination. “Our data confirm that the benefits of vaccination include attenuating disease severity in breakthrough cases,” Barchuk says.

Even though the study did not confirm which viral variants patients had, Russian health authorities attributed 95% of COVID-19 cases to the Delta variant in July and August, when the study ran.

The researchers also found that Sputnik V had 76% effectiveness at protecting against severe lung injury from COVID-19, meaning more than 50% of the lung is visibly affected on a CT scan. “We were able to get this rather unique data because no one in the world seems to perform as many CT scans for patients with mild disease as Russia does,” Barchuk says.

The study did not measure protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection or mild forms of disease. But the authors’ calculations, based on city-level vaccination numbers, offer an indirect estimate of effectiveness against symptomatic disease of about 50%.

John Moore, an immunologist at Weill Cornell Medicine, says the study results “seem credible and also consistent with expectations.” He adds that 81% protection against hospitalization is a bit lower than the recent effectiveness of mRNA vaccines seen in the United States and elsewhere, but still “very good.”

Sputnik V, developed by the ‎Gamaleya National Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology, works in the same way as the vaccines produced by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson (J&J): A nonreplicating adenovirus delivers a bit of DNA coding for the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein into the recipient’s cells. But whereas AstraZeneca uses the same adenovirus for both doses, Sputnik V uses two different types, to prevent antibodies against the first dose from rendering the second one ineffective. (J&J only uses one dose; a trial of a two-dose regimen is ongoing.)

“The Sputnik V design principle has always been considered a good one, better in my view than the AstraZeneca/Oxford and J&J vaccine designs, assuming J&J soon moves to two doses,” Moore wrote in an email to Science. “The concern some people have expressed is the validity of data published under the control of the Russian government.” The St. Petersburg study was done independent of the government and Gamaleya.

Sputnik V is now authorized in 69 countries, and some 10 million to 15 million doses are produced monthly, according to media reports. The European Medicines Agency and the World Health Organization (WHO) are still reviewing the vaccine. WHO authorization would mean the vaccine can be distributed under the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility, a program to give low- and middle-income countries access to COVID-19 vaccines. (A WHO spokesperson said this month it does not have a possible decision date.)

But the global rollout has been delayed because the Russian Direct Investment Fund, the government organization that funded the vaccine’s development and markets it internationally, failed to deliver second doses to Argentina, the Philippines, and other countries that had received shipments of the first doses. The fund said it would be able to resolve the shortages in August.

The new study’s encouraging results are likely to highlight those logistical troubles, says Judy Twigg, a Virginia Commonwealth University professor of political science who follows the development of Sputnik V. “Russia’s vaccine diplomacy has been breaking down not because of issues with the perceived quality of the product, but instead due to broken promises for its delivery,” Twigg says.

In Russia, which authorized Sputnik V more than 1 year ago and started mass vaccinations in January, the rollout has progressed slowly: About 22% of the country’s population is fully vaccinated, according to government figures, despite vaccine mandates for certain professions in many regions. Surveys suggest hesitancy is fueled by distrust of the government and conflicting messages from state media. Russia is now in the grip of its third wave of infections, with daily new cases at more than 20,000.

Only a handful of studies of Sputnik’s effectiveness have been done. Barchuk hopes more will follow, especially given the global spread of the Delta variant. “Unfortunately, there is an evident shortage of studies for Sputnik compared to other vaccines,” he says, “which only adds to controversies around this vaccine, both in Russia and globally.”

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/202...nst-severe-covid-19-delta-variant-study-shows
 
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EMA, WHO Still Awaiting Sputnik V Data Before Approval
Sep. 10, 2021

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Both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) have said they still need more data on Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine before the jab can be authorized for use across the EU.

The EMA said Thursday it was still in discussions with Russia over the data submitted to support its application, adding that the timeline for when the vaccine could be granted emergency use authorization was “uncertain.”

Russia submitted its applications for approval in February, following the publication of research in leading medical journal The Lancet which showed the vaccine had 91.6% efficacy.

“It looks like there is more data that needs to be submitted to us before we can progress with the rolling review,” Marco Cavaleri, head of vaccines strategy at the EMA, said in a press conference Thursday.

“So it’s a bit more uncertain to understand what could be the timeframe for the progression of evaluating these two vaccines,” he added, referring also to China’s Sinovac jab which has applied for EMA authorization.

The WHO added Friday that it too had still not received enough information from the Russian developers to approve the vaccine.

"Now we are at a stage when we are expecting the appropriate structures to submit a complete set of documents," the state-run TASS news agency reported WHO official Oleg Benes as saying Friday.

EU members Hungary and Slovakia moved independently to authorize Sputnik V and start administering jabs earlier this year. The rollout in Slovakia triggered a domestic political scandal and the country later halted its use of the vaccine due to low public demand.

Sputnik V has been credited as both safe and highly effective, with almost 85 million doses administered in Russia alone. However, concerns still loom in the scientific community about the manner in which the clinical trials underpinning the jab were conducted and numerous “inconsistencies” in the published research into the vaccine have been identified.

EMA and WHO inspectors visited Russia earlier this year to conduct a special ethics probe into the development of the jab and inspect manufacturing facilities. The latter probe resulted in the WHO uncovering a number of production infringements at one site making the Sputnik V vaccine.

Gaining approval from either body would be a major victory for Russia, which has launched an aggressive vaccine diplomacy drive and sold millions of doses to dozens of countries. It would also pave the way for possible mutual recognition of vaccines, simplifying post-pandemic travel for Russians vaccinated with Sputnik V.

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/09/10/ema-still-awaiting-sputnik-v-data-before-approval-a75010
 
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WHO Suspends Sputnik V Approval Process Over Manufacturing Breaches
Russia’s bid to have its coronavirus vaccine approved by either the WHO or EMA has run into multiple problems.
Sep. 16, 2021

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The World Health Organization (WHO) has suspended its approval process for Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, pending a fresh inspection of at least one Russian factory manufacturing the shot.

Speaking at a press briefing of the Pan American Health Organization, a regional branch of the WHO, Assistant Director Jarbas Barbosa said Russia’s bid for emergency authorization had been put on hold after a number of manufacturing infringements were uncovered during a WHO inspection in Russia in May.

“The process for Sputnik V’s emergency use listing (EUL) was suspended because while inspecting one of the plants where the vaccine is being manufactured, they found the plant was not in agreement with best manufacturing practices,” Barbosa said Wednesday.

The WHO previously reported it had found multiple infringements and had concerns related to the “implementation of adequate measures to mitigate the risks of cross contamination” at a Pharmstandard factory in the Russian city of Ufa.

Following the publication of the WHO’s findings, the plant said it had already addressed their concerns and that the inspectors had not questioned the safety or efficacy of the vaccine. But independent scientists and industry figures told The Moscow Times the manufacturing breaches could compromise the vaccine’s quality.

The WHO said Wednesday it was still awaiting an update from Pharmstandard and suggested new inspections of the facilities would be required before the body would grant Sputnik V approval.

“The producer needs to take this under advisement, make the necessary changes, and be ready for new inspections. The WHO is waiting for the manufacturer to send news that their plant is up to code,” Barbosa said.

Russia submitted its applications for approval by both the WHO and European Medicines Agency (EMA) in February, following the publication of research in leading medical journal The Lancet which showed the vaccine had 91.6% efficacy.

But the bid has run into multiple problems and been beset by delays.

Both the EMA and WHO said last week they were still awaiting a “complete set of data” from the developers of Sputnik V. The EMA refused to say what kind of information was missing. The body's head of vaccines strategy Marco Cavaleri said the timeline for final approval was “uncertain” amid the holdups.

Gaining approval from either organization would be a major victory for Russia, which has launched an aggressive vaccine diplomacy drive and sold millions of doses to dozens of countries. It would also pave the way for possible mutual recognition of vaccines, simplifying post-pandemic travel for Russians vaccinated with Sputnik V.

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021...al-process-over-manufacturing-breaches-a75058
 
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Russia's daily COVID deaths match record high
By Agence France-Presse | Sep 23 2021

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Russia on Thursday matched its record coronavirus death toll, as the Delta variant and a slowing vaccine drive push up infections.

A government tally reported 820 fatalities over the past 24 hours and 21,438 new cases. It previously reported the same death toll in late August.

Russia, the fifth worst-hit country globally by overall number of cases, has seen infections climb since August as vaccinations stall.

The capital Moscow -- the epicenter of Russia's pandemic -- has seen a spike over the past week with officials warning of rising hospital admissions.

Daily cases in the capital rose to 3,445, compared to 1,991 a day earlier.

Deputy mayor Anastasia Rakova said Wednesday the increase was due in part to a seasonal spike in respiratory illnesses and contact between people after the summer vacation.

She said the Delta variant now accounted for all cases in Moscow.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, Russia has registered more than seven million cases and 201,445 deaths, the highest death toll in Europe.

Authorities have been accused of downplaying the effects of the pandemic and, after a tight first lockdown in 2020, have refrained from introducing new restrictions.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Thursday he was unaware of plans to re-introduce lockdowns "despite the increase in numbers".

Under a broader definition for deaths linked to the coronavirus, statistics agency Rosstat reported in late August that Russia had seen more than 350,000 fatalities.

Several Russian vaccines have been available for months, but authorities have struggled to inoculate a vaccine-sceptic population.

Only 28 percent of the population has been fully vaccinated, government data showed Thursday.

President Vladimir Putin said last week he was self-isolating after dozens of cases were detected in his inner circle.

https://news.abs-cbn.com/amp/overseas/09/23/21/russias-daily-covid-deaths-match-record-high
 
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Russia sees no hurdles for WHO approval of Sputnik V vaccine
Reuters | October 2, 2021

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MOSCOW, Oct 2 (Reuters) - All the barriers to register Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine with the World Health Organization (WHO) have been cleared and only some paperwork remains to be completed, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said on Saturday.

The Sputnik V shot, widely used in Russia and approved for use in over 70 countries, is undergoing a review by the WHO and the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Their approval could open up new markets for the shot, especially in Europe.

Murashko has met WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in Geneva.

"Russia's position on promotion and registration of the Sputnik V vaccine was heard, we have removed all the questions for today," Murashko was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.

He said that the company which is dealing with Sputnik V registration at WHO only "has to sign a few documents, submit a few additional papers".

The WHO could not be immediately reached for comment.

The WHO said in July its review of how Russia produces the Sputnik V vaccine had found some issues with the filling of vials at one plant. The manufacturer said it had since addressed all of the WHO's concerns. read more

https://www.reuters.com/world/europ...es-who-approval-sputnik-v-vaccine-2021-10-02/
 
Hungary will receive technology to produce Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine
October 14, 2021​

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BUDAPEST, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Hungary will receive technology this year to produce Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine at a Hungarian plant currently under construction, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in Moscow on Thursday according to a foreign ministry statement.

This would be the first concrete step towards making the vaccine in the European Union, even though it is not yet approved in the bloc. The Sputnik V vaccine, widely used in Russia and approved for use in more than 70 countries, is still undergoing a review by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Medicines Agency.

"There is a huge demand for the Russian vaccine around the world, thus Hungary has an economic interest in taking part in the production," Szijjarto said, adding that Hungary and Russia had signed a "political agreement" about producing Sputnik in Hungary.

Hungary has widely used China's Sinopharm vaccine and also Sputnik during its mass vaccination campaign last year -- along with western made COVID shots -- although neither has been granted approval for emergency use by the bloc.

Without EMA approval, it is harder for Russians - and hundreds of thousands of Hungarians vaccinated with Sputnik - to travel throughout the EU.

The WHO said on Wednesday that the Emergency Use Listing process for Russia's Sputnik-V COVID-19 vaccine was on hold pending some missing data and legal procedures, which the U.N. body hopes will be "sorted out quite soon". read more

It is still unclear when the European Medicines Agency will approve Sputnik. read more
https://www.reuters.com/world/europ...roduce-sputnik-v-covid-19-vaccine-2021-10-14/
 
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Moscow is going back into lockdown as Covid-19 deaths multiply in Russia
By Anna Chernova and Rob Picheta | October 21, 2021



Moscow will impose a 10-day lockdown from next week in an effort to curb soaring Covid-19 cases, the city's mayor has said, as Russia endures its worst-ever phase of the pandemic.

"In the coming days, we will reach historic peaks in Covid cases," Sergey Sobyanin wrote in his blog, before announcing strict restrictions from October 28 to November 7.

"During this period, the work of all enterprises and organizations on the territory of the city of Moscow should be suspended," he said, before outlining a few limited exemptions.

Earlier this week the city ordered all unvaccinated residents over 60, as well as unvaccinated people "suffering from chronic diseases," to remain home for four months until late February.

Russia's Covid-19 crisis is deepening and its officials have started openly admitting that the country is facing a dire winter.

It reported its highest numbers of daily cases and deaths multiple times in recent days, and registered a record 1,028 official fatalities on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said at a Covid-19 taskforce meeting on Tuesday that the burden on medical institutions is seriously increasing, while the governor of the Oryol region, Andrey Klychkov, recently revealed that the region does not have the capacity to hospitalize any more coronavirus patients.

"The most terrible figure is that we had 1,854 beds prepared, today there are no more free beds available. Of course, we will free as many beds as we can, we'll look for options. But at the moment there are no beds available, and this raises serious concerns," Klychkov said during a live broadcast on Instagram.

Experts blame a slow vaccination drive, an overwhelmed health care system and widespread mistrust in government for the situation.

Russia's efforts to reduce transmission have been seriously hampered by a lackluster vaccination program. Just around 30% of the population is fully vaccinated, in a country where four domestic vaccines are available.

On Tuesday, when the country hit another Covid deaths record, the Kremlin admitted its partial responsibility for the low vaccination rates. "Of course, not all that needed to be done was done for informing and explaining the inevitability and importance of vaccination," President Vladimir Putin's spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told journalists.

"But at the same time, citizens of our country need to take a more responsible position and get vaccinated," he added.

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/10/21/europe/moscow-lockdown-october-2021-covid-intl/index.html
 
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Oh look I can comment. What are the odds that Arkain is a paid plant ? I'm going to say it's very very likely he is.
 
Aww their state backed anti vax propaganda blew up in their face?

That's a shame.

<{Heymansnicker}>
 
Namibia Halts Use of Russian Sputnik Jabs After S.African HIV Fears
By AFP | Oct 24, 2021

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The Namibian health ministry said in a statement that following South Africa's decision it was suspending, with immediate effect, use of the shots until the formula is listed for emergency use by the World Health Organization.

"The reason for discontinuation of the administration of the vaccine is being done out of abundance of caution that men who received Sputnik V may be at higher risk of contracting HIV when exposed to it," said the ministry.

Namibia had taken delivery of a Serbian donation of 30,000 Sputnik doses — out of which less than 120 have been administered so far.

South Africa's health products regulator on Monday said it would not authorize use of Sputnik based on earlier studies testing the safety of a modified form of adenovirus — a type of virus that causes respiratory infections — known as the Ad5 and contained in the jab.

The regulator said two previous studies, one in South Africa and one in the Americas, found a heightened risk of HIV infection among men linked to the Ad5-vectored vaccine.

In both trials, "administration of an Ad5-vectored vaccine was associated with enhanced susceptibility/acquisition of HIV in men," the regulator said last week.

Russia's Gamaleya Center, which developed Sputnik V, says any allegation of a link between the vaccine and HIV is unfounded.

It says clinical studies on more than 7,000 participants showed "there was no statistically significant increase of HIV-1 infection among adenovirus type-5 vectored vaccine recipients."

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021...-sputnik-jabs-after-safrican-hiv-fears-a75385
 
Russia Hits New Record Daily COVID Cases Despite Enforced Holiday to Curb Disease
BY BRENDAN COLE ON 11/06/21



Russia has recorded its highest daily number of coronavirus cases despite a compulsory week's holiday imposed to curb the pandemic's spread in Europe's hardest-hit country.

Russian authorities said on Saturday that 41,335 new COVID cases were recorded in the last 24 hours.

This was the highest number since the start of the pandemic, Tass reported, beating the previous daily record of 40,993 from October 31.

There were also reported 1,188 coronavirus deaths in the same period as pressure builds on the Kremlin which has sounded the alarm over bed shortages and medical staff under strain.

The latest spike comes in spite of an enforced holiday declared by Russian President Vladimir Putin between October 30 and November 7 which closed schools, shops, gyms and other non-essential services.

Some businesses in the Russian capital stayed open out of financial necessity and risked fines of one million rubles ($14,000) due to a lack of support from the state throughout the pandemic and lockdown, The Moscow Times reported.

The Novgorod region in the northwest of the country was the first region to extend the non-working week by an additional seven days, news agency Tass reported.

Several other regions such as Tomsk in Siberia, Chelyabinsk in the Ural Mountains and Kursk and Bryansk regions southwest of Moscow, have also extended the non working period.

Russian officials blame low vaccination rates for the sharp rise. There have been around 57.2 million full-course vaccinations—less than 40 percent of the country's population, the Associated Press reported.

Russia boasted about being the first country to approve a COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V, which they have exported to more than 70 countries all the while being unable to complete inoculation of its own population.

Meanwhile, the single-dose Sputnik Light vaccine was favorably reviewed by the medical journal The Lancet this week which said it produced a strong antibody response.

However, vaccine hesitancy has been blamed on mixed messaging from the authorities, inconsistent policies, unreliable statistics and attempts to shift responsibility on to the leaders of Russia's republics and regions, Reuters reported, citing doctors and medical officials.



The Russian government COVID task force says the official death toll is 245,635, the largest in Europe and the fourth highest in the world behind the United States, Brazil, and India. There have been a total of 8,755,930 infections.

However, authorities have been accused of skewing the numbers to cover up a higher death count and the task force only counts deaths directly caused by the virus.

State statistical service, Rosstat, which also counts deaths where the virus was a contributing factor or was suspected, gave a much higher toll. It said at the end of September, there were about 462,000 virus-connected deaths—nearly twice as high as the task force's figures.

https://www.newsweek.com/russia-covid-vaccine-sputnik-lockdown-death-toll-pandemic-1646677?amp=1
 
Mom visited saint pete

Said at corona test stations no one had masks or gear
 
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