Russia ramps up rhetoric against Sputnik V competitors

Never one to miss the chance for a spot of one-upmanship on its rivals, the Putin administration has boasted of the rapid rate of participants signing up to dose up on the Sputnik V vaccine for COVID-19.

Kirill Dmitriev, chief executive of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, has also underlined the greater evidence base for human adenovirus vaccines such as Sputnik V, as opposed to the less tested candidates that are among the western world’s hopefuls for protection against the virus.

"We have frequently discussed the potential risks that new technologies may pose"He said: “In just two weeks, 55,000 volunteers have already been recruited in Moscow, which is more than 40,000 people required for the post-registration phase of the clinical trial of the Sputnik V vaccine. The high speed of recruiting is largely due to the volunteers' understanding of the safety and efficacy of the human adenoviral vectors platform, which underlies the Russian vaccine and has been repeatedly tested by experts from different countries.