Opinion: Putin’s dangerous vaccine gamble

Prospective students Current students UCL in the media Services for media Tell us your story - Professor Francois Balloux (UCL Genetics, Evolution & Environment) highlights the political sentiment surrounding the Russian Covid-19 vaccine, and discusses the ethical issues involved with Russia having bypassed normal safety trials. Yesterday, Russia President Vladimir Putin claimed a huge victory: a new vaccine against Covid-19 has been approved, and mass vaccination will commence in October. Describing it as "quite effective", the President added that it had passed all the required checks. And in case there were any lingering doubts, he reassured the population that his daughter had already been given it. It should come as no surprise that these claims are all highly dubious. In fact, the Russian government bypassed proper safety and efficacy trials for their vaccine, which was approved after only two months of testing on humans. Not only is this a reckless and foolish decision, but mass vaccination with an improperly tested vaccine is deeply unethical.