Sputnik V - The African Mirror

Jul

01

2021

Key remarks from Russian President Putin’s annual phone-in

THE following are highlights from Russian President Vladimir Putin's annual phone-in yesterday. Putin spoke in Russian. The quotes below were translated into English by Reuters. PUTIN ON GETTING VACCINATED AGAINST COVID-19 "I thought that I needed to be protected as long as possible. So I chose to be vaccinated with Sputnik V. The military is getting vaccinated with Sputnik V, and after all I'm the commander-in-chief. "After the first shot, I didn't feel anything at all. About four hours later, there was some tenderness where I had the shot. I did the second (shot) at midday. At midnight, I measured…

Apr

11

2021

By The African Mirror

Libya launches COVID-19 vaccination drive after delays

COVID-19

LIBYA’S new unity government launched a long-delayed COVID-19 vaccination programme yesterday after receiving some 160,000 vaccine doses over the past week, with the prime minister receiving his jab on live television. While Libya is richer than its neighbours due to oil exports, the country's healthcare system has been strained by years of political turmoil and violence, and it has struggled to cope during the pandemic. Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibeh called it a "blessed day" in the fight against COVID-19 after receiving his shot, without saying which vaccine he had been given. At least 100,000 of the doses that arrived this week…

Apr

10

2021

By The African Mirror

Sputnik shot less effective vs S.A variant

COVID-19

RUSSIA’S Sputnik V shot is less effective against the South African COVID-19 variant but still does better than other vaccines, the lead scientist behind it was quoted as saying on Friday. "With regards to the 'South African' variant, the effectiveness of the antibodies produced by Sputnik V, like all other vaccines, against it declines," Alexander Gintsburg said in an interview with the Interfax news agency. He said that Sputnik V was tested against the British and South African variants, as well as the original strain, first detected in China's Wuhan province, by laboratories in the United States. The labs used…

Mar

20

2021

By The African Mirror

Cameroon suspends use of AstraZeneca vaccine

COVID-19

CAMEROON’S health ministry has suspended the administration of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine it was scheduled to receive on March 20 as part of the global vaccines sharing scheme COVAX. The ministry said that the suspension was for precaution and prudence. It gave no further reasons for the decision or if it will go ahead and take delivery of its share of the vaccine. Several countries have resumed use of shots on Friday after the European Union and British regulators said the benefits outweighed any risks after reports of rare instances of blood clotting that temporarily halted inoculations. Cameroon has approved Russia's…

Feb

28

2021

By The African Mirror

Vaccines face hurdles if shots become annual affair

COVID-19

JOHN MILLER and LUDWIG BURGER VACCINES from AstraZeneca, Russia's Gamaleya Institute and Johnson & Johnson fight the coronavirus with another virus, leaving scientists concerned the shots may lose potency if annual inoculations become necessary to fight new variants. So-called viral vector shots - also used by several Chinese COVID-19 vaccine developers - use harmless modified viruses as vehicles, or vectors, to carry genetic information that helps the body build immunity against future infections. However, there is a risk that the body also develops immunity to the vector itself, recognising it as an intruder and trying to destroy it. Most vector-vaccine…

Jan

30

2021

By The African Mirror

Guinea approves Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine

COVID-19

Guinea has approved the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine for domestic use, becoming the second African country to do so, health authorities and Russia's sovereign wealth fund said on Friday. The West African country's approval of the vaccine for use for one year occurred two weeks after President Alpha Conde was seen receiving it on television under a trial run of what is expected to be a much large delivery of vials from Russia. Guinea is negotiating a bilateral deal to take an additional 2 million doses, a senior government official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Russia's vaccine diplomacy…

Jan

29

2021

By The African Mirror

Algeria to start COVID-19 vaccinations on Saturday

COVID-19

ALGERIA will receive its first shipment of Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine today and plans to start its vaccination campaign tomorrow, according to Communication Minister Ammar Belhimer. The vaccine will be given first to healthcare workers, the elderly and people with chronic diseases, state media cited him as saying, without giving details on the number of doses. "More shipments will arrive from China, India and other countries," he said on Thursday. The North African country has 106,610 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 2,881 deaths.

Dec

15

2020

By The African Mirror

Russia trials COVID-19 vaccine for domestic animals, including mink

WORLD

MARIA VASILYEVA RUSSIA is close to completing clinical trials for a COVID-19 vaccine for domestic animals and mink and expects to begin the regulatory approval process in February, according to Russia's agricultural safety watchdog. The Federal Centre for Animal Health began developing the vaccine in spring after the authorities established the virus could be passed from humans onto some domestic animals. Russia became the first country to give regulatory approval to a human vaccine -- Sputnik V -- in August and is in the process of rolling it out across the country. Over 150,000 people have already received it. The…

Nov

25

2020

By The African Mirror

Russia, eyeing foreign markets, says Sputnik COVID-19 vaccine to cost under $20

COVID-19

ANDREW OSBORN and POLINA NIKOLSKAYA RUSSIA’S Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine will cost under $20 per person on international markets and Moscow aims to produce more than a billion doses at home and abroad next year, its financial backers and developers said on Tuesday. The Sputnik vaccine, named after the Soviet-era satellite that triggered the space race in a nod to the project's geopolitical importance for Moscow, is administered in two shots, each of which will cost less than $10, according to the official Sputnik V Twitter account. For Russian citizens, inoculation will be free of charge. Mass vaccination in Russia,…

Aug

21

2020

By The African Mirror

Russia to begin COVID-19 vaccine trials on 40,000 people next week

WORLD

MASS testing of Russia's first potential COVID-19 vaccine to get domestic regulatory approval will involve more than 40,000 people and will be overseen by a foreign research body when it starts next week, backers of the project have announced. These were the first details on the shape and size of the upcoming late-stage trial of the vaccine given by its developers, who are aiming to allay concerns among some scientists about the lack of data provided by Russia so far. The vaccine, called "Sputnik V" in homage to the world's first satellite launched by the Soviet Union, has been hailed…