Focus: GS-III Science and Technology
Why in news?
- Russia became the first country to officially register a coronavirus vaccine and declare it ready for use, despite international skepticism.
- President Vladimir Putin said that one of his daughters has already been inoculated.
Details
- Scientists in Russia and abroad have been sounding the alarm that the rush to start using the vaccine before Phase 3 trials — which normally last for months and involve thousands of people — could backfire.
- Russian authorities have said that medical workers, teachers and other risk groups will be the first to be inoculated.
- The Russian Health Ministry said that the vaccine is expected to provide immunity from the coronavirus for up to two years.
- It was emphasized that vaccination will be voluntary.
- Becoming the first country in the world to develop a vaccine was a matter of national prestige for the Kremlin as it tries to assert the image of Russia as a global power.
The Russian “Sputnik V” vaccine
- The vaccine is administered in two doses and consists of two serotypes of a human adenovirus, each carrying an S-antigen of the new coronavirus, which enter human cells and produce an immune response.
- The platform used for the vaccine was developed by Russian scientists over two decades and had formed the basis for several vaccines in the past, including those against Ebola.
-Source: The Hindu
