Russia claims to have the world's first Coronavirus vaccine, Putin claims his own daughter has used it.

Russian President Vladimir Putin. CNBC/AFP/Getty.

Russia claims to have the world's first Coronavirus vaccine with Russian President Vladimir Putin claiming that his own daughter has already taken it. CNBC. Putin claims that the vaccine is safe, effective and creates immunity to the virus. Clinical trials of the vaccine have been completed in two months and phase three of the trials are set to begin on Wednesday. The data about the vaccine, which is one of 26 being tested right now, has not been published. Full scale production of the vaccine is set to begin in September. 

My Comment:

I'm somewhat skeptical that Russia has already created a vaccine that is effective and safe in creating immunity to the Coronavirus disease. For one thing the vaccine is brand new and there is no way to tell if it will have longer term effects this early in the project. It's still in the testing phase and there is a long way to go before we know it is safe. 

Plus Russia has yet to publish the results of the phase 1 and phase 2 trials. Without that information it is impossible to know for sure if the results the Russians are claiming are real or not. And even if it is, they still need to run more trials to be sure. 

However, there is reason to be hopeful as well. Vaccine development isn't impossible and it's not outside the realm of possibility that Russia has gotten lucky with this vaccine and it could be used to fight the Coronavirus. I don't think we should just blindly trust Russia but I do think that some level of cautious optimism is called for. 

I do think that it is slightly unfortunate that if the vaccine is good that it was Russia that came up with it. Many countries hate Russia regardless and will be distrustful of the vaccine even if it is perfectly safe. Indeed, I see a lot of people here in the United States that will refuse the vaccine just because it came from Russia. Those people are also the same ones screeching the loudest about masks, ironically enough. 

Would I personally feel safe taking this vaccine? I'm about as pro-vaccination as you can get and I think that anti-vax people are loony at best and actively malevolent at worst. That being said, I would have serious reservations against using this vaccine if it comes out in September. With development so rushed I would be worried that the vaccine could have unknown side effects. If the Russians try it for several months and nothing bad happens then I would be more willing to try it but as of now I'm skeptical. 

I'd also really like to know if I had natural antibodies that could make the vaccine unnecessary. Though I have now tested negative for the virus twice now, I have a high chance of previous exposure and I tend to think that I may have already had the virus. I'd rather not take the risk at all if it's unnecessary. I don't think it makes any sense at all to vaccinate people who are already immune, though, in my case, it might end up being required by my job. 

I think there will be a lot of resistance to vaccination for Coronavirus. The medical community, which is disliked during normal times, pissed away a lot of their good will during the course of this crisis. The flip-flop on masks, the draconian lockdowns and the politicization of medicine (specifically the only people allowed to go out and about are BLM rioters) killed a lot of respect for the medical community and a lot of people might consider vaccination to be at best harmful and at worst enemy action. 

That's unfortunate because I do believe in vaccination and I do think that it's probably possible to have a safe, accessible vaccine that could at the very least slow the spread of the virus, if not wipe it out entirely. Though I have misgivings about the rushed nature of the vaccine and the obvious idiocy in the medical community, I do think that we could kill the virus if a vaccine can be used safely. 

If this pans out Russia is going to be a huge winner. They stand to make a lot of money from the vaccine and they could gain a lot of international goodwill if it works. It probably won't be enough to fix their reputation entirely, but it could certainly help. 

President Trump might be a winner as well. Most of the criticism against him (and by that I mean not the deranged noise that has come from the press, but from actual voters) is that he hasn't handled Coronavirus as well as he could. If a vaccine is developed and is actually working by November that's a card that can't be played anymore. It could very well ensure his victory in 2020, if only his supporters end up taking the vaccine. 

I do think that the only way out of this mess is either a vaccine or herd immunity. Though I think we are a lot closer to herd immunity (in the United States at least) than commonly thought a vaccine could help quicken the end of this outbreak and perhaps return to world to some semblance of normalcy.