On the topic of Sputnik V, I'm curious if you have any thoughts on the Brazilian health authority's evaluation of it, particularly their finding that every batch contained replication-competent adenovirus. Manufacturing error and bad quality control? Or potentially just part of their vaccine as designed? I'm probably being paranoid, but I noticed that their publications and datasheet never actually say their vaccine uses replication-defective virus...
Of course, the Sputnik V Twitter account ranting in Portuguese that it was a purely political decision influenced by the US meddling doesn't inspire confidence.
My spouse and I convinced a bunch of high-risk relatives in Russia to get Sputnik V. They, like the vast majority of Russians, don't trust the vaccine. The Russian government doesn't seem to be pushing it hard within the country and it was quite difficult for them to find in their city. Since the alternatives are probably getting COVID-19 eventually or two other Russian vaccines without Phase 3 testing, I still feel like it was clearly their best option.
Good question, Rebecca. I’ll be covering this tomorrow. I do think that the vaccine is probably still effective but I am not convinced that it is very safe. While a replication-competent adenovirus is not wildly dangerous, the implication of this happening is that the manufacturing standards were not up to snuff. This makes me worry about the overall quality and safety of the vaccine.
I do still think that it probably provides good protection against COVID-19. So, once someone has received the vaccine, I think it’s not such a bad thing to have gotten in. But I can’t advise anyone to get this vaccine, and I can’t advocate for it. I don’t trust it, knowing what we now know.
On the topic of Sputnik V, I'm curious if you have any thoughts on the Brazilian health authority's evaluation of it, particularly their finding that every batch contained replication-competent adenovirus. Manufacturing error and bad quality control? Or potentially just part of their vaccine as designed? I'm probably being paranoid, but I noticed that their publications and datasheet never actually say their vaccine uses replication-defective virus...
Of course, the Sputnik V Twitter account ranting in Portuguese that it was a purely political decision influenced by the US meddling doesn't inspire confidence.
My spouse and I convinced a bunch of high-risk relatives in Russia to get Sputnik V. They, like the vast majority of Russians, don't trust the vaccine. The Russian government doesn't seem to be pushing it hard within the country and it was quite difficult for them to find in their city. Since the alternatives are probably getting COVID-19 eventually or two other Russian vaccines without Phase 3 testing, I still feel like it was clearly their best option.
Good question, Rebecca. I’ll be covering this tomorrow. I do think that the vaccine is probably still effective but I am not convinced that it is very safe. While a replication-competent adenovirus is not wildly dangerous, the implication of this happening is that the manufacturing standards were not up to snuff. This makes me worry about the overall quality and safety of the vaccine.
I do still think that it probably provides good protection against COVID-19. So, once someone has received the vaccine, I think it’s not such a bad thing to have gotten in. But I can’t advise anyone to get this vaccine, and I can’t advocate for it. I don’t trust it, knowing what we now know.