EDITORIAL - A vaccine? give yourself a healthy dose of skepticism

Russia has announced it has approved what it claims to be the first successful vaccine against COVID-19.

“I know it has proven efficient and forms a stable immunity…We must be grateful to those who made that first step very important for our country and the entire world,” said Russia President Vladimir Putin in a news report.

Putin added that one of his daughters had already taken the vaccine.

While some see this as good news, others, particularly scientists, are wary about the purported success of this alleged vaccine. The former US Food and Drug Administration head even came out with a statement saying he would not use the vaccine.

“I wouldn’t take it, certainly not outside a clinical trial right now… It appears that it’s only been tested in several hundred patients at most,” said Scott Gottlieb who headed the agency from 2017 to 2019.

What makes them doubtful, among other things, is the speed with which the virus was considered successful. We have been saying time and again that developing a virus and carrying out the required clinical trials to ensure it is safe for a general population will take a lot of time. Now here is Russia saying it has done everything to make sure a vaccine is safe and successful in just a few months.

Aside from this, there is also a lot of doubt as to how Russia came up with this vaccine. How it was developed, tested, and produced, and it is unlikely Putin will share that information.

Russia is one of those regimes that isn’t forthcoming with data. It has a long history of withholding information, even from its own citizens, going back to the Cold War.

Whatever gains Russia made following the fall of the United Soviet Social Republics when it comes to the sharing of government information were lost after Putin, formerly of the KGB, rose to power and enforced his authoritarian tendencies.

So anything that comes of out Russia, particularly from a strongman who has a habit of keeping secrets, should be taken with a lot of salt and a healthy dose of skepticism.

We are not saying this Russian vaccine won’t work. True skeptics aren’t outright naysayers; they will hold on to a belief until enough evidence is observed to prove it wrong.

In fact, we actually hope the virus will work. Those of us who are not sick with COVID-19 are sick of COVID-19.

What we are saying is that credible medical experts from around the world --not just those in Russia-- must be given the chance to make sure that it actually works and is safe before it is made widely available.