Good Science, Bad Marketing? Russia's Sputnik Vaccine Is Plagued By Controversy, Missteps

[Rogue Valley]

Good Science, Bad Marketing? Russia's Sputnik Vaccine Is Plagued By Controversy, Missteps

The Kremlin hailed the Sputnik V vaccine as a triumph when it was approved for use in Russia in August, the first in the world. But distribution has been plagued by marketing missteps, self-inflicted wounds, and production problems.

www.rferl.org

4/15/21
In January, Vasily Vlassov, 67, got sick with COVID-19. He was lucky, the Moscow academic said. His symptoms weren’t bad, and he’s had no lingering aftereffects. He said he could get vaccinated with the homegrown, Russian-designed Sputnik V, the first coronavirus vaccine in the world to be approved by a national government for use. But he hasn’t, and doesn’t plan to any time soon. Why? He doesn’t trust it. They’ve shot themselves in the foot here, by jumping the gun through regulatory processes to begin with, and then stretching the story about this vaccine in their public-relations campaign from the very beginning.

In the capital city of the nation that was first with a COVID vaccine, less than 10% of the inhabitants have been vaccinated.