Many Russian business leaders and politicians have had access to an experimental vaccine against Covid-19, according to the site Bloomberg . The operation, we can read, would have taken place in April.
While the modern world is going through one of the worst pandemics in its history, a real vaccine race is taking place underground, with the key a real geopolitical advantage. In this spirit, several nations do not hesitate to force the development of their treatments.
The Chinese army, for example, received the green light earlier this month to use a first experimental vaccine against Covid-19. Developed by CanSino Biologics, it has not yet passed phase 3 clinical trials .
Russia is also affected. Several sources claim that the country's elite have already been able to benefit from an experimental vaccine, reports Bloomberg .
So, as early as April, top business executives as well as billionaire tycoons and government officials reportedly began to be vaccinated by the Gamaleya Institute, funded by the state, in Moscow.
This program to vaccinate volunteers remains legal in Russia. Several hundred people are said to be involved. Bloomberg contacted dozens but all wished to remain anonymous . One of them, a senior executive, nevertheless reported to them that he had not suffered any side effects. Others, on the contrary, said they had a little fever and muscle aches.
But some top corporate executives reportedly said they turned down the offer due to health issues. Another reportedly decided not to participate after his doctor told him it would take at least a year to assess the risks of the new vaccine.
For his part, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who himself recovered from Covid-19 after being hospitalized in May, said he did not know the names of those who had received the vaccine.
In addition, he also denied the information that Vladimir Putin, the current Russian President, also benefited. "It probably wouldn't be a good idea to use an uncertified vaccine on the head of state “, he reacted.
The Gamaleya vaccine has officially already passed phase 1 and 2 clinical trials. According to the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Kirill Dmitriev, which finances the Institute, phase 3 trials are due to begin on August 3. Thousands of subjects in Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will then be vaccinated and followed for several months to truly assess the safety and efficacy of the treatment.
In other words, this means that those who have been vaccinated since April have no certainty about the real effectiveness of the vaccine . “Those who take it do so at their own risk said Sergey Netesov, a former executive at Vector, a state-run virology center in Novosibirsk, Siberia.
To date, Russia has reported more than 782,000 cases of Covid-19, with just over 12,500 deaths.
