The sad truth about Sputnik V

Even with zero transparency it's clear Russia's flagship vaccine is underperforming

Shouldn’t Sputnik V uptake reduce COVID mortality? The opposite is happening.

One of Russia’s most respected scientists has pointed to data that strongly suggests Sputnik V is not working as advertised. Actually, Russia’s flagship COVID vaccine might be making things worse.

Vitaly Zverev, a professor of virology who has received all sorts of laurels, recently noted the close correlation between the increase in vaccination and the increase in morbidity and mortality from COVID in Russia.

This is not what a safe and effective vaccine does

A vaccine that is effective should have some kind of noticeable neutralizing effect—but COVID mortality is actually increasing as more and more Russians are coerced into getting the shot.

Zverev made this observation during an international conference held earlier this month.

The academic also pointed to the unprecedented number of reported side effects from COVID vaccines worldwide—while stipulating that figures on post-vaccination complications are not available in Russia.

A scientist following the science…

Zverev has been highly critical of the way in which COVID vaccines have been thrust upon Russians. In November, he argued both Western and Russian vaccines “have not yet been proven”:

“Nobody knows about the long-term consequences [of the vaccines]. Therefore, it is impossible to vaccinate with a vector adenovirus vaccine [like Sputnik V], which is actively used in Russia.”

In comments made in August, the professor said none of the current COVID vaccines can be considered safe:

"Of course, they have not fully passed all the studies for both safety and efficacy. Especially when they began to be used for a wide range of people with chronic diseases, both the elderly and the young," he told Ura.ru. […]

Earlier, he noted that we are talking about the use of new genetic engineering technologies on humans, which were tested very quickly. Typically, a vaccine is launched into circulation after no less than five years of research.

There’s a very telling end note from that article, by the way:

As a reminder, there are no statistics on vaccination side effects in Russia, just as statistics on diseases, hospitalizations and deaths of those vaccinated with COVID are not published.

If you want to fully understand how incompetent and sad Russia’s vax crusaders are, look no further than comments made by Gamaleya director Alexander Gintsburg, who took offense to Zverev’s suggestion that children shouldn’t be vaccinated with his unproven “Sputnik-M” slurry:

“Regarding the vaccination of children, I can repeat once again that Sputnik M, which was developed on the same platform as Sputnik V, protects against all strains that are now circulating in Russia, and the vaccine is highly effective,” says Gunzburg.

However, he acknowledged that the effectiveness of vaccines against the omicron strain remains to be seen. […]

In early December, the first two cases of [omicron] infection were detected in Russia in those who arrived from South Africa.

Even with close to zero transparency, it’s clear Sputnik V is not doing what it’s supposed to be doing.

What exactly does Sputnik V "do"?

Meanwhile, the Russian government is aggressively deploying Reddit debate tactics as it coerces people into rolling up their sleeves.

“Sputnik V is safe and effective!”

And don’t forget: RT is shouting 1930s Purge mantras at anyone who dares to question this totally unproven—and probably counterproductive—drug.

Stop and think about what that means.