Sputnik-V vs COVID-19

Officials of the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging and Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) have met with representatives of two pharmaceutical companies that are developing their respective vaccines for the 2019 coronavirus disease, or COVID-19. With the go-signal from President Rodrigo Duterte, Department of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. and officials from Malacañang had talks last Friday with two foreign manufacturers of COVID-19 vaccines.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire disclosed the Philippine officials first met with Pfizer representatives to discuss “arrangements” for securing vaccines being developed by the New York-based pharmaceutical giant. They had separate meeting with representatives of the Russian government and the manufacturer of Sputnik V vaccines. Details of both meetings were not immediately available.

This came as reports from Paris on Thursday indicated potential breakthroughs in anti-COVID vaccines being developed by other giant pharmaceuticals. The French drug-maker Sanofi and Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline claimed having started a clinical trial of their protein-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate, and aimed to reach the final testing stage by December. If the results are conclusive, Sanofi and GSK hope to get the vaccine approved in the first half of next year.

President Duterte repeatedly declares the COVID-19 vaccine could be the only way that Filipinos can safely get to so-called “new normal” as the COVID-19 pandemic continue to spread unabatedly. From one-on-one talks with his counterpart officials President Xi Jinping of China and Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Duterte got reassurances the Philippines will be among the countries in the priority list of getting the first crack to their respective anti-COVID vaccines. Thus, the Chief Executive believes the vaccines might be ready for clinical trials in the Philippines before December this year.

The latest pronouncements though from the World Health Organization (WHO) during their meeting on the same day in Geneva was not as promising. At the latest estimates of WHO officials, the vaccine could be commercially available by the middle half of next year still.

But Russian scientists and their other medical and vaccine experts have developed not just one but two kinds of anti-COVID vaccines.

This is the most promising development on the anti-COVID vaccines as announced by Putin during his meeting in Moscow with top Russian government officials last month. This I learned from the official transcripts regularly provided to this corner by the Russian Embassy in Makati City. Their dispatches are being sent through my ICloud account only. I wonder why. Let me though share choice excerpts from Putin’s interview held last Aug.27 with VGTRK journalist and anchor Sergei Brilyov of Vesti v Subbotu (News on Saturday):

“Brilyov: Mr President…By the way, you had a meeting with Government members from this office, and discussed the second vaccine. But what do we hear in response? What kind of a vaccine is it, if it went through just two phases of trials? What are these Russians talking about? And it is true, there were only two phases of trials.

Putin: No. We did everything that was required to register the vaccine, but with an asterisk, as we say. This means that this vaccine will have to undergo further research as part of a mass vaccination campaign. Therefore, we acted in strict compliance with the Russian law, and the Russian law is consistent with the international practices and regulations that apply in other countries.

The vaccine went through pre-clinical and clinical trials, and was tested on animals as well as volunteers. Our specialists are absolutely confident today that this vaccine creates lasting immunity and people get antibodies, as was the case with my daughter. This vaccine is also harmless. Thank goodness, my daughter feels fine.

Brilyov: Did she seek your advice on this? Of course, she is an adult.

Putin: She is an adult. She just said that she took this decision.

Brilyov: Was she a volunteer or was this decision linked to her job?

Putin: She volunteered, and considering her profession she needed it.

Brilyov: Are we talking about the one who works in the biomedical sector?

Putin: She works with many people, and in order to work normally, she needed a sense of security.

As I mentioned, her temperature and was 38.4 the first day, and slightly above 37 the next day, that was it. After the second injection, 21 days later, she also had a slight temperature, but everything is fine. I just spoke with her by phone. She is well. Thank goodness, everything is fine.

To reiterate, research will continue, but in this country, everything takes place within Russian law, which is quite in line with international practices. In September, we should have another vaccine. If the drug we are talking about has been proposed, researched and registered by the Gamaleya Institute, then…

Brilyov: That is, Sputnik V.

Putin: That’s right, Sputnik V. The second drug, as they have reported to me, will be ready in September. It is being developed by the well-known VEKTOR Institute in Novosibirsk. I am confident that the specialists at VEKTOR will make an excellent drug that will help people a lot.”

Russian Healthcare Minister Mikhail Murashko informed Putin that the Gamaleya National Research Centre of Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Russian Healthcare Ministry began to work on a vaccine as early as in 1990. So immediately after the WHO officially raised the SARS-CoV-2 contagion to pandemic level, Murashko disclosed, Gamaleya was already in advanced stages of the anti-COVID vaccines.

This means, Murashko cited, the Gamaleya Centre approached the COVID-19 pandemic with a well-developed technological platform with proven effectiveness and safety. Thus, Murashko explained, this group of scientists led by Dr. Alexander Gintsburg created a coronavirus vaccine in the shortest possible time.

This received the Russian Federation patent for the Sputnik-V vaccine developed to fight COVID-19.