Russian vaccine 92% effective

Yet more good news on the vaccine front, but this time from a surprising source.

Russia’s Sputnik V jab has been found to be 91.6 per cent effective, according to peer-reviewed data from late stage clinical trials published in The Lancet. The two-shot vaccine provides complete protection against moderate and severe cases of Covid-19. It is also safe, with no serious adverse reactions observed in trial participants.

Professor Ian Jones of the University of Reading and Professor Polly Roy of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine penned a comment published alongside the Lancet paper: “The development of the Sputnik V vaccine has been criticised for unseemly haste, corner cutting, and an absence of transparency. But the outcome reported here is clear and the scientific principle of vaccination is demonstrated, which means another vaccine can now join the fight to reduce the incidence of Covid-19.”

The results are astonishing. Sputnik V is now the third vaccine shown to be around 90 per cent effective. Russia is sure to put the jab to good geopolitical use. Hungary has already broken ranks with the EU and signed a deal for two million doses of the Sputnik vaccine because the Brussels programme had been “too slow”, according to the country’s foreign minister. Even before the Sputnik results were announced, Angela Merkel said that she was open to the idea of manufacturing the Russian jab in the EU. Given the continent’s ongoing vaccine debacle, pressure to do so is sure to mount.

The Kremlin drew condemnation in August when the Sputnik rollout started before stage 3 trials had even begun. The jab has already been approved in 16 countries including Argentina, Hungary and Iran.

Domestic uptake might prove tricky. Only 46 per cent of Russians have said they are willing to take the vaccine in an Ipsos poll last week. Why could it be that so many Russians have misgivings about being injected with a drug developed by the state?

Meanwhile in Moscow, a court has handed a three-and-a-half year jail sentence to Alexei Navalny, who was detained on his return to Russia from Germany where he had been recovering after being poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent.

The vociferous Kremlin critic was deemed to have broken the terms of a suspended sentence for embezzlement handed down in 2014. Navalny has called the charge “fabricated” and “politically motivated”.

The Council of Europe – the continent’s leading human rights body – said the judgement “defied all credibility”.

Police have detained more than 300 people near the court. On Sunday, more than 5,000 demonstrators were arrested at “unauthorised” pro-Navalny rallies in 86 cities across the country. Many of his younger supporters have only known life under Putin’s rule.

Speaking at the hearing today, Navalny thanked his supporters: “In my final word I want to first of all express my support to all those people who are now under arrest and persecuted in other ways including [property] searches and prosecution just for them being honest people, just for not being afraid.”

Second test: England v South Africa

Tens of thousands of people across eight areas of England will be tested for Covid-19 in a door-to-door “two week sprint” to contain the South African strain of the virus after cases were detected with no links to international travel.

Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, said in the Commons today that it was “critical” that people in the affected areas stay at home.

The aim is to reach 80,000 people in Broxbourne, London, Maidstone, Southport, Walsall and Woking. Other “concerning” mutations have also been identified in Liverpool and Bristol.

The variant is believed to be more contagious, although “there is no evidence to suggest it is more severe,” Hancock said. “But we have to come down on it hard. Our mission must be to stop its spread altogether.”

Preventing all spread sounds far-fetched, but hopes of containing the virus were given a boost today by analysis suggesting that the AstraZeneca vaccine offers 76 per cent protection for up to 12 weeks after a first dose, increasing to 82.4 per cent after a second dose administered three months later.

Researchers at the University of Oxford have said that their vaccine could also reduce transmission of the virus by 67 per cent.

The UK’s coronavirus numbers are continuing in the right direction. Over the weekend, 931,204 people were vaccinated, bringing the total who have received a first jab to 9.3 million, including half of the over-70s and nine in 10 of the over-80s. Cases have fallen by 16.2 per cent week-on-week and deaths by 31.4 per cent.

Dealing with big picture statistics all the time makes it easy to forget the instances of personal tragedy they represent. Sadly, Captain Sir Tom Moore, the second world war veteran who was knighted after raising an incredible £32.7 million for the NHS during the first lockdown in the spring, has died today after testing positive for coronavirus, aged 100. His original aim was to raise just £1000 by doing laps of his garden before his centenary.

Monkey business

Elon Musk, chief executive of SpaceX and Tesla, has invested a chunk of his massive fortune into implanting a computer chip in a monkey’s brain to see if it can play video games with its mind alone.

“We want them to play Mind Pong with each other,” said Musk who described the device as “a Fitbit in your skull with tiny wires that go into your brain.”

Musk is aiming to develop a brain-machine interface which could help people without the use of their limbs to do everyday tasks like eating and writing emails.

It’s been a good year for the maverick centi-billionaire. He’s overseen SpaceX’s successful launch of NASA astronauts into orbit, become the world’s richest man and had a baby with the musician Grimes, controversially named X Æ A-12. Poor little chimp.

Answer Time vaccines special

If you missed it – former chair of the vaccine task force, Kate Bingham, and Professor Brian Cox were guests on the latest episode of Answer Time. It’s the discussion show hosted by Iain Martin, Reaction editor, with a chance for subscribers to ask questions. If you missed it, it will be on YouTube tomorrow.

Mattie Brignal,
News Editor