Putin Imposes Mask Mandate as Russian Vaccine Gets Stuck in Neutralhttps://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2020/10/28/putin-imposes-mask-mandate-as-russian-vaccine-gets-stuck-in-neutral-n1103768In August, Russian President Vladimir Putin ballyhooed the world’s very first coronavirus vaccine. The serum had yet to run through stage 3 trials but Putin assured the world it was safe and effective.
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You would think that if the vaccine was safe and effective, Russia would have been dosing thousands of front-line health workers and other essential employees. Instead, vaccine distribution appears to be stuck in neutral while the secretive institute where the vaccine was developed remains tight-lipped about its progress.
... “People who were immunized with this vaccine won’t know whether they will be protected or develop a severe disease until they encounter the virus,†Konstantin Chumakov, a top virologist with the Global Virus Network, told CNN in an interview.
“And to do this, you need to immunize a whole lot of people and just wait until they will be infected and see whether they will have a lower incidence or they will have more severe disease. There is just nothing that can replace clinical trials.â€
Reports say that only 16,000 Russians have participated in the trials so far with only 6,000 getting their second inoculation. In the U.S., Moderna’s vaccine has dosed almost 30,000 people with more than 25,000 getting their second inoculation. BioNTech-Pfizer’s vaccine is testing 44,000 patients while more than 35,000 have received their second dose. ...
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Another issue for the Russians is how many doses they can manufacture. There have been conflicting reports about the Russians’ capability to manufacture enough doses for their entire population of 146 million in a year — a number the Ministry of Trade says they will be able to hit.
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[Alexander] Gintsburg [head of the Gamaleya Institute] told CNN Russia could produce around 5 million a month by December, which he said would allow getting enough doses to vaccinate 70% of the Russian population in about a year.
But unless Russia ramps up the production significantly from 5 million doses a month, the country will be only able [to] produce around 60 million doses in this time frame, meaning it would be able to effectively vaccinate about 30 million people with both doses — out of more than 146 million Russians.
By way of contrast, the
three leading vaccines working with Operation Warp Speed began Phase III testing
(10s of thousands of people) before or very soon after the Russian vaccine started Phase I
(a few dozen people). Operation Warp Speed also helped the vaccine companies set up partnerships for high-volume vaccine production. Operation Warp Speed also has pre-prepared distribution logistics. Operation Warp Speed also contracted for increased production of miscellaneous necessities such as vials, syringes, and other disposables necessary for doing vaccinations. In short, OWS is a comprehensive development-to-injections plan that probably is way beyond the imaginations of Biden and his operatives.
