Russians spurn Sputnik shots, deaf to Putin's pleas

Puttie reaps what he sows. Russians don’t trust him because he’s a liar and a fabulist.

Lies and conspiracy are how he stays in power (along with the odd murder or two of opposition figures, journalists, etc.) so his own people don’t trust him.

No wonder they have no faith in a domestic vaccine.

Russians cite a variety of reasons for not getting vaccinated -- from the belief they will be injected with a tracking microchip to fears it will cause genetic mutation.

Unbelievable ignorance. Antivaxxers should be isolated from the others.

But I heard it was so popular, especially in Hungary.

But I heard it was so popular, especially in Hungary.

It is popular, more than 50 countries have authorized it. But apparently this is not enough evidence for antivaxxers, who instead choose to believe that the government wants to implant some chip into their brainless bodies..

Oh no, this is really irrational. It may be true that Sputnik was approved early, but by now with over a million "test subjects" in Moscow alone and they apparently had not rolled over, the deficiency in test subject numbers has been remedied.

Funny how 'foreign misinformation campaigns' are never considered to be a cause for something like vaccine hesitancy in Russia, at least in the media that was full of alarmist claims about a rushed and possibly unsafe process for Sputnik-V and full of assurances for almost identical processes not being rushed or unsafe for Astrazenica etc. as well as deeming any questioning of them as being rooted in foreign misinformationcampaigns.

You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink.

The US is even offering lottery tickets in some areas in order to increase motivation and uptake! A free ice cream may not be enough...

Russians are not subject to the intense media/govt control as most of the western world. They have varies sources of information. Putin himself said, they have a free choice.

Since Sputnik V uses similar mechanism as the AstraZeneca jab, one would expect that it is at least as good as AZ, even if people are skeptical about its efficacy of 91.6%.

Secondly, the Sputnik V uses two different types of doses which differ according to the type of adenovirus used. The purpose of using two different types is to lower the possibility of the body developing antibodies against the adenovirus after the first dose, which could make the second dose ineffective. So it would be fair to say that the efficacy of Sputnik V would be much higher than the AZ jab.

From what I have read, the concerns regarding Sputnik V are related to safety, not efficacy. Specifically, the Ad5 vector used in the second dose has raised concerns.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)32156-5/fulltext

Putin himself said, they have a free choice.

Very convincing, a choice between sputnik and nothing else.

Very convincing, a choice between sputnik and nothing else.

A bit like Russian "elections"

But independent sociologists said vaccine hesitancy was a sign of deep social woe and was evidence of a breakdown in trust between Russians and the authorities after decades of Kremlin propaganda.

Much of the mistrust stems from people's belief that for the authorities, politics trump health concerns, he told AFP, and that the development of the vaccine was rushed to boost the Kremlin's foreign policy credentials.

Russia in the Soviet era was a vaccine powerhouse and together with the United States helped rid the world of polio.

But since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Russia has struggled to innovate and experts say recent healthcare reforms including restructuring and hospital closures have made matters worse.

Foreign-made coronavirus vaccines are not available in Russia, and while many say they are not against getting vaccinated in principle, they would be more easily convinced if a foreign alternative were available.

Ania Bukina, a 35-year-old marketing manager, said she believes the healthcare reforms had likely damaged the integrity of Russian medicine and there was little information about possible side effects of Sputnik.

Russia has to convince its own people - including offering more options, and releasing more information about Sputnik V

I warned last year that in Kremlin's rush to get Sputnik V out before following the proper process, that people (already skeptical that Covid vaccines are coming out faster than other vaccines in the past) could view it as a political move and instead bite them in the arse in the long run by eroding trust in the vaccine................. Unfortunately that backfired scenario is now bearing fruit.............

Russia has been among the countries hardest hit by the pandemic.

Russia had recorded about 250,000 virus-related deaths by the end of March, according to statistics agency Rosstat.

But some experts say the country underreports coronavirus fatalities.

Even stakeholders in the pharmaceuticals industry in Russia say the low vaccine uptake is a result of how the country has promoted its vaccine.

"If you constantly talk about the faults of other countries' vaccines like they've been doing on our televisions, then this leads to distrust towards vaccines in general," said Anton Gopka, Russian co-founder of New York-based biotech investment firm ATEM Capital.

Yet another one that backfired, didn't it

The purpose of using two different types is to lower the possibility of the body developing antibodies against the adenovirus after the first dose, which could make the second dose ineffective.

Wait, this doesn't make sense - you want antibodies. The whole point about vaccines is to make the body remember to make antibodies against that particular pathogen. Not just once, but two doses to make sure the body remembers and gets drilled into its memory. Are you sure this is not a misunderstanding?

Wait, this doesn't make sense - you want antibodies. The whole point about vaccines is to make the body remember to make antibodies against that particular pathogen. Not just once, but two doses to make sure the body remembers and gets drilled into its memory. Are you sure this is not a misunderstanding?

You want antibodies (or better said, you want a complete immune reaction) but against the Coronavirus, not against the Adenovirus. Too much activation by the adenovirus and you get no more protection, just higher rates of negative side effects (low safety). The adenovirus vector is better if it is almost invisible to the immune system, just a little activation to make the immune system detect the infection, but not enough to make it the main target.

"The purpose of using two different types is to lower the possibility of the body developing antibodies against the adenovirus after the first dose, which could make the second dose ineffective.

Wait, this doesn't make sense - you want antibodies. The whole point about vaccines is to make the body remember to make antibodies against that particular pathogen. Not just once, but two doses to make sure the body remembers and gets drilled into its memory. Are you sure this is not a misunderstanding?"

I am talking about the adenovirus viral vector vaccines which work on the mechanism of adenovirus (generally harmless in most cases) which are genetically engineered to carry the coronavirus spike protein. Yes you want the body to make antibodies against the coronavirus spike protein, but if it also develops immunity against the adenovirus itself, it might render the second dose ineffective. To work around that, the makers of Sputnik V made both the doses of the vaccine contain different types of adenoviruses, Ad26 and Ad5. There is no doubt that the efficacy of Sputnik V vaccine is boosted by this mechanism, but there are some concerns regarding the Ad5 vector being used.

Russian propaganda doesn't work at home? A sad day for Putin, indeed.

@virusrex @EvilBuddha

Ok, that does make sense. Appreciate the description