Leaked Report Suggests Russian Vaccine Developers Cut Corners in Reporting Data

Paul Goble

            Staunton, August 22 – A 136-page confidential report written in January 2021 leaked to The Moscow Times shows that the documentation Russian vaccine developers provided to get authorization for its use suffered from “severe inconsistencies,” even though it did not in itself question the efficacy or safety of the vaccine (themoscowtimes.com/2021/08/20/leaked-sputnik-v-report-shows-more-inconsistencies-in-clinical-trial-data-a74847).

            Its findings corroborate complaints by EU medical officials and studies of foreign doctors as published in The Lancet and will make it even more difficult for Moscow to secure authorization for the use of its vaccine abroad, especially as it comes on top of production and delivery problems.

            The  powers that be have responded in a way they often do: they have published articles detailing what they say are equal or even more serious violations of the basic rules of medical research by the developers of coronavirus vaccines in Western countries (fondsk.ru/news/2021/08/22/vakciny-i-rastuschij-shlejf-skandalov-54295.html).

            Another report about the Russian medical scene released today is also likely to cause problems in Moscow. A survey of 2855 medical workers in Russia found that 87 percent of them said there are not enough doctors, nurses and technicians in Russian capitals to handle the patient load from the pandemic (novayagazeta.ru/articles/2021/08/22/u-kogo-lechitsia-kuda-delis-vrachi).

            Today, the Russian authorities reported registering 20,564 new cases of infection and 762 new deaths from the coronavirus over the past 24 hours, as the pandemic continued to ebb and flow across the country forcing officials to adjust the restrictions they have imposed (t.me/COVID2019_official/3468  and regnum.ru/news/society/3344522.html).

            Meanwhile, Russian researchers said they were developing a vaccine that will work against both covid and the flu and that they will soon release a vaccine that is delivered by spraying nasally rather than by injections (regnum.ru/news/3350167.html and kp.ru/daily/28320.5/4463176/).