No proof was offered and scientists in russia warned that more testing would be necessary to prove it is safe and effective. Nonetheless, officials said vaccination of doctors could start as early as this month and mass vaccination may begin as early as October. Scientists around the world have been cautioning that even if vaccine candidates are proven to work, it will take even more time to tell how long the protection will last.
“It’s a too early stage to truly assess whether it’s going to be effective, whether it’s going to work or not,” Dr. Michael Head, senior research fellow in global health at the university of Southampton. It was also too soon to dismiss the Russian claim out of hand. The country, though economically dependent on the export of natural resources, does have a history of achievement in science, medicine and aerospace including becoming the first to put a person into space, in 1961.
A vaccine would be the kind of significant achievement that would elevate Putin at home and in the international community. “They would love to be able to claim credit because the first country to develop the vaccine will gain enormous prestige,” said Fried, a former assistant secretary of state for european and Eurasian affairs who is now a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council. It’s also possible russia had help. The U.S., britain and canada last month accused hackers working for Russian intelligence of trying to steal information about a coronavirus vaccine from academic and pharmaceutical research institutions. But to Vesna Jezic, a 79 year old native of croatia and immunologist who was taking her grandchildren to the same park, the suspiciously fast progress on the vaccine announced by Putin was reason to be doubtful.
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