The coronavirus vaccine dubbed Sputnik 5 by Russian President Vladimir Putin shows promise.
Originally greeted with wide skepticism when Putin announced it in August, the vaccine showed a strong immune response in recent tests.
The British scientific journal The Lancet reports that the vaccine appears to be both effective and safe. The safety issue is critical, because vaccines sometimes can be harmful to some elderly and vulnerable populations.
Putin, who has said his daughter was vaccinated with the drug, hopes Sputnik 5 is ready for widespread distribution in Russia in October.
Western experts cautioned that the trial group was too small to be conclusive and most participants were healthy and in their 20s and 30s.
Still, the British publication said, the trial showed promise.
Let’s hope so. To wish failure on any country at this point in the pandemic would be rank nationalism of the stupidest sort, even if that country may well be actively working for the election of someone like Donald Trump.
Personally, I’ve never been more opposed to and disgusted by an American politician than I am Trump. I hope he loses, and loses in a landslide.
But I hope this vaccine and others, no matter where they originate — are successful. So many lives depend on the development of a functional vaccine.
