Russian vaccine may produce antibodies that can worsen
corona infection, warn experts |

Russian President Putin's daughter has been inoculated with
two jabs of Sputnik V. But that does not deter experts world
over from going against Sputnik V as it has not completed all
the prescribed clinical trials to test its safety, efficacy and
side-effects. A top pulmonologist has quit the Health
Ministry for "rushing" the vaccine while a leading Russian
virologist says a wrong vaccine produces wrong antibodies
that only raises the intensity of the viral attack.
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MOSCOW, Aug 15: Medical experts within Russia and abroad and the WHO have questioned
the ethical validity of releasing the inadequately tested vaccine, Sputnik V,
jointly developed by Moscow's Gamaleya Research Institute and the Russian Defence
Ministry for inoculation of the public.
One of Russia's top pulmonologists has quit in protest against what he called
"rushing" of the vaccine in violation of the medical ethics on human trials.
Prof Alexander Chuchalin said, "It is a gross violation of medical ethics."
He tried to block the registration of the vaccine on safety grounds. Failing,
he quit the ethics council of the Russian Health Ministry.
The two leading doctors involved in the development of the vaccine, Prof Alexander
Gintsburg, director of Gamaleya Research Centre, and Prof Sergey Borisevich,
virology expert, have come under attack for flouting medical ethics by rushing
the vaccine into production without the prescribed trials.
Russia is the first country to register a vaccine against coronavirus but experts
say its safety, efficacy and side-effects have not been tested fully through
all the stages of human trials.
Russia's leading virologist and former head of infectious diseases centre at
the Vector Institute, Alexander Chepurnov, says use of a wrong vaccine increases
the severity of a virus. It depends on what antibodies the vaccine creates.
With certain antibodies the viral infection can intensify.
The WHO says Russia has not completed the Phase III human trials. Phase III
trial involves wide-scale testing with thousands of participants.
According to Prof Chuchalin, it is yet to complete advance stage trials. Go-ahead
was given for production without completing the Phase III trials in which thousands
of volunteers are given the vaccine to check its side-effects and immune system
response it induces.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin's daughter has been inoculated
with two jabs. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has offered to take a shot.
He said: "When the vaccine arrives I will have myself injected in public."
President Vladimir Putin had announced on Tuesday that Russia had become the
first country to grant regulatory approval to a covid vaccine, which showed
"stable immunity" against the new coronavirus and had "passed all the necessary
checks". Putin said his daughter had received the two jabs. But did not say
which of his two daughters, Maria and Katerina, received the vaccine. He said
the vaccination will be voluntary. Mass vaccination may begin in October. Large-scale
production will start in September. Now it is being given to health workers.
It is based on a proven vaccine against adenovirus that causes the common cold.
The Russian Health Ministry says it will provide immunity from SARS-CoV-2 for
two years. However, the results of trials have not been made public. And there
is no transparency.
Called viral vector vaccine (it employs another virus), it is administered
in two doses. It has two serotypes of human adenovirus, carrying an S-antigen
of the new coronavirus. It will enter the human cell and produce an immune response.
It has been named "Sputnik V" in homage to the world's first satellite launched
by the Soviet Union.
There are more than 200 vaccine candidates in the world being developed and
tried, with at least 24 in the human clinical trial phase, according to the
WHO.
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SELECTIONS FROM OUR ARCHIVES |
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Top Govt officer thrashed, kicked inside Bhubaneswar office: Incident sparks a debate
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The incident has triggered a debate on social media whether the officer refused to take orders from a party leader or he was accused of any corruption, some netizens justifying the handling in either case, that Ratnakar was blocking public welfare work! It is true the Govt machinery has been the enemy Number One of the people of this country, existing for itself and for these politicians, for well over seven decades. India will never make an inch of progress - real progress, not make-believe-progress - unless and until this machinery is eliminated.
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UK's House of Commons votes to legalise assisted dying: What it means | |
ANALYSIS: There have been cases of Britons going to Switzerland to get rid of a miserable life. Now once the House of Lords also passes the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, terminally ill Britons can call it quits with the help of a medical practitioner here itself. But the measure when comes into practice, will have very serious social consequences, it is feared. There won't be comparisons, even as tropes in Latin American folklores. The worst case scenario is of those who are not terminally ill also trying to misuse the provision to leave this world early when life with dignity is not available. But that is, in fact, a political question and not a moral imbroglio!
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What caused Air India Boeing 787 crash? Some questions, some answers | |
The CCTV footage and the video circulating on social media do not indicate any serious abnormalities in takeoff or descent, it has been confirmed. The disaster is becoming curiouser and curiouser. The flight path was not curvy. And the aircraft maintained a steady, gliding descent with its nose straight and the wings perfectly level. The pilot's distress call does not specify what prevented lift and climb-out. Here are some expert opinions. The sole purpose is to raise travellers' awareness about air travel.
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Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla line brings Kashmir Valley on India's rail map |
- The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla line provides Kashmir with all-weather connectivity and integrates the Valley with the rest of India.
- The saying 'Kashmir to Kanyakumari' is now a dream come true.
- The Chenab bridge on the line, an engineering marvel, is the world's highest
railway bridge, taller than the Eiffel Tower. (Video: File)
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Work done, Elon Musk steps down from DOGE, leaves White House | |
Musk wrote: "My scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end... The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government." Now on it will be on auto-pilot.
PROGNOSIS: DOGE was prematurely born to protect the country by aborting an impending socio-economic disaster which very few people could see coming.
Although its immediate job was to save American taxpayers billions by slashing waste, eliminating fraud, cutting Government bloat and ensuring utmost efficiency in administration for the good of the people.
(Today's headlines )
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Ailing Asiatic lion Pataudi too dies of bird flu at Kanpur zoo
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Originally from Junagadh, Gujarat, Pataudi was relocated to Etawah Lion Safari in September 2019 before being transferred to Gorakhpur Zoo in 2021. Recently it was receiving treatment for pancreatic and liver infections. After tigress Shakti died in the zoo on May 7 due to bird flu, Pataudi was shifted to Kanpur. Some birds are also reported to have died mysteriously around Gorakhpur. All zoos in UP are closed for fear of a bird flu outbreak.
Three other animals too had died - a tiger, a leopardess and a female wolf. Wolf Bhairavi died last Saturday, leopardess Mona died the Thursday before that and tiger Kesari died on March 30. Some of them had Shakti's symptoms but the cause of death has not been confirmed yet.
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48 tourist destinations closed in Kashmir following Pahalgam terror attack
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As tourist inflow is an indicator of normalcy returning to an erstwhile terrorist infested Valley, the Government has been trying hard to make everything travel-friendly, launching lot many projects and bringing Kashmir on the national rail map that physically completes the process of Kashmir's integration with the rest of India. And that defeats the designs of Pakistan eyeing Kashmir and simply explains a recrudescence of terrorism in J&K.
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Trump slaps ‘kind’, ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on trading partners; a 'lenient' 26% on India!
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ANALYSIS: There is a lot of hue and cry around the world over Trump's tariffs. But tariff, simply put, is a tax. But unlike tax, it affects the exporting country too. Domestic prices will go up for some time. Nothing more will happen, good or bad!
What motivated Trump's newfound policy, apart from being a stunt to justify his existence in the White House, is a false realisation that increased tariff will make foreign goods prohibitive, thereby boosting local production, and create more jobs, and more prosperity will ring in! If that is true, India would have been shining by now: Producing own Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail and Scotch Whiskies! And what about coconut and palm oil by America!
(Today's headlines )
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Trump signs order to shut Education Dept - And the contrast with India
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PROGNOSIS: It looks a Real New Trump is emerging - courageous, balanced, powerful and disinterested. Determined to save his country from the cliff, he has done quite a few draconian things that will reduce the burden of debts of the Federal entity, like the golden handshake, stopping senseless funding, pulling out of a worthless WHO. Shutting the Education Department is another. On the other hand, running it is also not the Centre's job either (We will convincingly elaborate it in the next chapter).
In India the scene is just the opposite. Centralisation is the core agenda and identity of the ruling dispensation without which it has no existence, or in other words, it exists for that set of schemes only. A realisation of this never dawned upon any Opposition party in 2014 or any time thereafter, what to talk of being able to see it coming 70 years ago! The consequence of all this violation of basic natural law of the universe we cannot predict.
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Sunita, Wilmore's Dragon splashes down in Gulf: What delayed their return? |
THE AMERICAN CONUNDRUM: Political venom has migrated to top echelons in the US. It was reported last year NASA has become politicised, vitiated. But NASA refuted the charge. How Boeing developed a glitch but its unmanned return was smooth. When Suni-Wilmore were stranded last June, why the return was set for February? Because that comes only after January 20! SpaceX called the shots, for itself and for Trump. Then the mission was manipulated for March for a better bargain! In between, what made Elon Musk 'predict' during campaign if Kamala Harris wins he would be in jail. In politics, it is said, "the only rule is there are no rules." Difficult times for Americans too.
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All 80k health workers in US offered $25,000 voluntary buyout: Administering wrong prescriptions!
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The terminations are part of a large-scale exercise going on all across Fed departments and organisations to reduce wasteful Government expenditure as decided by a Trump in a mess gone berserk, and improve administrative efficiency following the whims of billionaire and his associate Elon MusK and his DOGE. It has not been shared how terminations are going to raise the efficiency bar! It looks like Trump has stolen some of the prescriptions meant for India. But the American problems are quite different.
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