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Vaccines work.
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.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.
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.”
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.
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.
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://www.reuters.com/world/europ...roduce-sputnik-v-covid-19-vaccine-2021-10-14/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