[Reporter: Paul Hunter] Testing on a small number of people has been underway in Russia
for less than two months
and there's been no scientific data made public on any of it.
Nonetheless, from Vladimir Putin today a
stunner.
Russia, he said, has approved the first vaccine for the coronavirus infection
nicknamed Sputnik V for Sputnik vaccine.
After the Russian space satellite that in 1957 beat the world into orbit.
Russia even put out this video today referencing the namesake
but there are myriad questions and concerns already.
A vaccine so quickly and from a country notorious for propaganda and deception
has many worrying not only does it work
but is it safe?
The vaccine's been checked, said Putin.
Adding, one of my own daughters was subject to the vaccine.
She feels well.
If it's the real deal, what a breakthrough.
With the pandemic still well out of control on this planet
especially in America
Russian officials said today the world
is already lining up for Sputnik.
Two dozen countries, including some companies in the U.S. are said to be interested.
We already received tentative interest and preliminary requests for one billion doses of Russian vaccine.
[Reporter] The World Health Organization is watching with keen interest.
But from assistant director Jarvis Barbosa today, a caution.
The WHO, he said, can't recommend the vaccine until it's analyzed all the information and data.
So has Russia really won the race on this?
Mass production of Sputnik is set to begin next month
with shipments by October.
Still critical testing continues.
Phase three trials with tens of thousands of people are set to begin tomorrow.
Paul Hunter, CBC News, Washington.
[Andrew Chang] So with data behind the vaccine being clear as mud.
Let's bring in infectious diseases specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch.
So Dr. Bogoch, no data means we know nothing
but in your mind what is the potential harm here?
There's a few.
The first is that we don't really have a good understanding of what the safety profile is
so it's not quite clear what the common or uncommon side effects of the vaccine are going to be.
There's no real understanding about what the benefits of the vaccine are.
We don't have any idea if it actually works.
And the third is a loss of trust in public
health.
If this goes sideways
certainly there can be mistrust in public health
which can have ripple effects well beyond COVID-19.
But they really are playing a game of Russian roulette.
OK, sure fair enough.
But let me ask you this.
Does Russia have the capacity to develop an effective vaccine this quickly?
Yeah, absolutely.
There's tremendous capacity in the country.
They have phenomenal scientists and they have the infrastructure to do so
but you really have to have the phase three clinical trials
to really have a better understanding of the vaccine
before you start integrating this into community vaccination programs.
All right, Dr. Bogoch, it was good to talk to
you, thank you so much.
My pleasure.
