Russia approves untested Covid vaccine

 

From Futurism.

Vladimir Putin has announced that the country has approved a coronavirus vaccine, becoming the first country in the world to do so. Throwing caution to the wind, the vaccine has yet to complete Phase 3 trials, a vital step most experts believe is critical to proving a vaccine both safe and effective.

Just last week, the World Health Organisation reiterated the need for caution, warning Russia directly to not stray from the usual testing to ensure the safety.

The move is likely a claim to victory for Putin. Yet, no peer-reviewed evidence has yet to surface of the approved vaccine being safe.

The vaccine was approved, but Phase 3 trials, generally the final stage of testing involving tens of thousands of participants, are only starting tomorrow.

That’s a massive red flag to experts. “The collateral damage from release of any vaccine that was less than safe and effective would exacerbate our current problems insurmountably,” Danny Altmann, Professor of Immunology at Imperial College London, told the Science Media Centre.

“This is a reckless and foolish decision,” Francois Balloux, Professor of Computational Systems Biology at University College London said, according to the Science Media Centre.

“Mass vaccination with an improperly tested vaccine is unethical,” Balloux added. “Any problem with the Russian vaccination campaign would be disastrous both through its negative effects on health, but also because it would further set back the acceptance of vaccines in the population.”

For a country with high mortality rates and too poor to lockdown the economy, using an untested vaccine might just make sense.  It depends on the likely risk factors.  Suppose the risk of death or serious disability from the coronavirus is 1 in a 1000, while the risk of death/disability from the vaccine is 1 in 10,000, then it would make sense to use the vaccine.  Of course, without stage 3 testing, we don't know what the risk of the vaccine is, though we can get a tentative idea from the stage 2 testing.  On the other hand, for people in high-risk categories, such as the elderly, medical personnel, and people with compromised immune systems, the risk of death or serious disability is evidently much greater than 1 in 1000, perhaps as high as 1 in a 100.  For them, the risk/reward payoff is much greater.