The United States has turned down Russia’s Coronavirus Vaccine “Sputnik V,” saying it’s incomplete and cannot be tried on American citizens till it goes through Phase 3 clinical trials.
This comes after Russian officials offered to cooperate with Operation Warp Speed (OWS), a US multi-agency body that is accelerating access to effective Covid-19 vaccines and therapeutics.
A Russian official told CNN there is a general sense of mistrust for Russia on the American side.
US officials say the Russian vaccine is considered half-baked, they haven't had any interest in its rollout.
"There's no way in hell the US tries this (Russian vaccine) on monkeys, let alone people," one US government public health official said according to CNN.
A former senior US administration official called the Russian vaccine "a joke," after it failed to complete the 3 phases of testing and so no one, not the World Health Organization or the US is taking it too seriously.
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said on Thursday that President Donald Trump was briefed on the new Russian vaccine.
She, however, said that "but American vaccines go through rigorous Phase 3 testing and high standards".
The Trump administration is still struggling to develop a drug to combat the deadly virus that has killed more than 164,000 Americans.
So far, two pharmaceutical companies (Pfizer and Moderna) have moved to Phase 3 trials of the vaccine in the United States, the final stage of testing before it can be approved.
Scientists have expressed concern that these trials would be short-circuited by Mr Trump’s desire for a political win before the general election on November, 3.
On Tuesday, Russia’s President Vladimir V. Putin announced that Russia had approved a #coronavirus vaccine, becoming the first country to do so.
He insisted that it was safe and effective and one of his daughters had already received the dose.
By skipping Phase 3 trials, which are crucial to showing that a vaccine candidate can successfully prevent infections, it’s too soon to know if this vaccine is safe.
Kirill Dmitriev, the chief executive of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund RDIF, said that Western and specifically U.S. criticism of the vaccine was indiscriminate.
“We were not expecting anything else, we are not trying to convince the U.S, our point to the world is that we have this technology”. He said.
“It can be available in your country in November/December. But very sceptical people will not have this vaccine and we wish them good luck in developing theirs.” He concluded.
Russian officials have said that they are open to sharing information about the vaccine and that it would allow US pharmaceutical companies to produce the Russian vaccine on American soil.
COVID-19 updates.
Russia has confirmed 912,823 cases, 722,964 recoveries and 15,498 deaths.
The United States remains the epicentre of the #Chinavirus with a staggering 5.416,014 confirmed cases, 2.843,642 recoveries and 170,422 deaths.
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