Russian To A Vaccine

Vladimir Putin made his move yesterday to help Donald Trump by announcing a "vaccine" for COVID-19, despite the fact that it hasn't been rigorously or thoroughly tested yet. We're supposed to trust him, and the one person we know who will take Putin at his word 100% of the time, even when he's lying, is Donald Trump.

Russia on Tuesday became the first country to approve a coronavirus vaccine, a move that was met with international skepticism and unease because the shots have only been studied in dozens of people.

President Vladimir Putin announced the Health Ministry’s approval and said one of his two adult daughters already was inoculated. He said the vaccine underwent the necessary tests and was shown to provide lasting immunity to the coronavirus, although Russian authorities have offered no proof to back up claims of safety or effectiveness.

“I know it has proven efficient and forms a stable immunity,” Putin said. “We must be grateful to those who made that first step very important for our country and the entire world.”

However, scientists in Russia and other countries sounded an alarm, saying that rushing to offer the vaccine before final-stage testing could backfire. What’s called a Phase 3 trial — which involves tens of thousands of people and can take months — is the only way to prove if an experimental vaccine is safe and really works.

By comparison, vaccines entering final-stage testing in the U.S. require studies of 30,000 people each. Two vaccine candidates already have begun those huge studies, with three more set to get underway by fall.

“Fast-tracked approval will not make Russia the leader in the race, it will just expose consumers of the vaccine to unnecessary danger,” said Russia’s Association of Clinical Trials Organizations, in urging government officials to postpone approving the vaccine without completed advanced trials.

While Russian officials have said large-scale production of the vaccine wasn’t scheduled until September, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said vaccination of doctors could start as early as this month. Officials say they will be closely monitored after the injections. Mass vaccination may begin as early as October.

Trump of course will ask Putin to share his "miracle vaccine" with the American people, and his MAGA faithful will line up, some of them. (Some will never take a vaccine if offered, but they will if Trump's cult tells them to.)  Look very soon for an announcement from Trump that the Putin vaccine will be readily available before the election, and that it will have "solved" the COVID-19 problem here in the US just in time to reelect Dear Leader Donald.

Watch the space on the "Russian vaccine" closely.  It's definitely Putin's play for four more Trump years...at the minimum.