Russia said on Thursday it plans to begin a large-scale efficacy trial of the vaccine in a total of 40,000 people, but will also begin administering it to people in high-risk groups, such as healthcare workers, before the trial has produced any results. Sputnik-V’s developers, as well as financial backers and Russian authorities, say the vaccine is safe and that two months of small-scale human trials have shown that it works.īut the results of those trials have not been made public, and many Western scientists are sceptical, warning against its use until all internationally approved testing and regulatory hurdles have been passed. “In that sense, a poor vaccine is worse than no vaccine.” “Less than complete protection could provide a selection pressure that drives the virus to evade what antibody there is, creating strains that then evade all vaccine responses,” said Ian Jones, a virology professor at Britain’s Reading University.
Viruses, including the pandemic SARS-CoV-2, are known for their ability to mutate all the time - and often this has little or no impact on the risk posed to people.īut some scientists are worried that adding “evolutionary pressure” to the pathogen by deploying what might not be a fully protective vaccine could make things worse.
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LONDON (Reuters) - Russia’s plan to roll-out its “Sputnik-V” COVID-19 vaccine even before full trials show how well it works is prompting concern among virus experts, who warn a partially effective shot may encourage the novel coronavirus to mutate.