A version of this story appeared in the August 12 edition of CNN's Coronavirus: Fact vs. Fiction newsletter. Sign up here to receive the need-to-know headlines every weekday.
No scientific data on the Sputnik V vaccine has been released, and the treatment is only entering crucial Phase 3 clinical trials, meaning there are huge unanswered questions over its safety and effectiveness.
Members of the Russian elite have reportedly taken doses, however, including the daughter of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF).
A mass rollout among Russians is slated for October, Helen Regan reports, with frontline workers and high-risk Russians first in line to voluntarily receive the vaccine. At least 20 countries and some US companies have expressed interest in the vaccine, Russian officials say -- including Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who volunteered today to be "the first to be experimented on."
There need to be roughly 30,000 participants in a Phase 3 trial in order to give "power in the analysis, to be able to document the vaccine works" Dr. Francis Collins, the director of the US's National Institutes of Health, told CNN in June.
But only around 2,000 people are slated to take part in that critical stage of the Russian vaccine, according to Sputnik V's website. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, expressed serious doubts about whether the Russian vaccine is ready for widespread use.
"I hope that the Russians have actually, definitively proven that the vaccine is safe and effective," Fauci told ABC News. "I seriously doubt that they've done that."
The rushed process not only poses a threat to Russians but could lead to even more political grandstanding -- and may irk President Donald Trump, who only last week suggested that a US vaccine could be ready as soon as election day in November.
There are also fears that the rushed out Russian vaccine risks inflaming growing anti-vaccination sentiment by giving the impression that speed is more important than safety. As Zachary B. Wolf puts it, would you trust a vaccine if Vladimir Putin told you it was safe?
US Health Secretary Alex Azar said today that coronavirus vaccine development is "not a race to be first," and said that any vaccine in the US would have to meet the Food and Drug Administration's "gold standard" before it was made publicly available. At best, trials will be completed in early 2021, say infectious disease experts.
There are 25 vaccines currently in clinical trials and more than 100 more in development, according to the World Health Organization.
YOU ASKED. WE ANSWERED
Q: How can I tell that my child is sick with Covid-19?
A: Symptoms of Covid-19 are the same in children as they are in adults.
"If you look at the long list of potential symptoms — congestion, cough, fever, loss of sense of smell — they can all happen in both adults and children," Dr. Sean O'Leary, vice-chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases, told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Monday.
Other key signs include any difficulty in breathing; a rash, especially one that is quickly spreading; a lack of energy; and problems keeping a child awake, said pediatrician Dr. Daniel Cohen.
"It's very important to let the doctor know immediately if you can't really get them up, if they're falling asleep all the time and just exhausted, if they're not drinking, not eating -- the activities of daily living," Cohen said.
Send your questions here. Are you a health care worker fighting Covid-19? Message us on WhatsApp about the challenges you're facing: +1 347-322-0415.
WHAT'S IMPORTANT TODAY
UK falls into record-breaking recession
UK economic output shrank by 20.4% in the second quarter of 2020, the worst quarterly slump on record, pushing the country into the deepest recession of any major global economy.
This crash in GDP in the April-June period is the worst since quarterly records began in 1955 and follows a 2.2% contraction in the first quarter. Industries most exposed to government lockdown measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic — services, production and construction — saw record drops.
It comes a day after ONS announced the UK economy shed 730,000 jobs since the country shuttered businesses in March. The young, the old and the self-employed have borne the brunt of the unemployment crisis, CNN's Chris Liakos and Mark Thompson report.
US government strikes $1.5 billion deal for potential coronavirus vaccine
The Trump administration has inked a deal with Moderna Inc. to manufacture and deliver 100 million doses of the company's Covid-19 vaccine once it is approved.
The contract, worth $1.525 billion, means the doses would be owned by the US government and would be distributed and used as part of its Covid-19 vaccine campaign. If the doses are used, they would be provided to Americans at no cost.
The government can also acquire up to an additional 400 million doses of this vaccine, the US health department said in a press release.
The contract is part of the US government's Operation Warp Speed. The government already has deals with Pfizer, Janssen, GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi Pasteur, Novavax and AstraZeneca, for doses of their vaccine candidates.
The aim is to create "a vaccine portfolio for Operation Warp Speed, the Trump Administration is increasing the likelihood that the United States will have at least one safe, effective vaccine by 2021," Azar, the healthy secretary, said in the release.
New Zealand reinstates coronavirus restrictions
Earlier this week, New Zealand announced it was reimposing coronavirus restrictions after it broke a 102-day streak without a single locally-transmitted Covid-19 infection. Now the date of the country's upcoming election has been thrown into doubt.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said there would be a delay of "at least a few days" in dissolving Parliament -- a key step towards holding a national election on September 19.
New Zealand's new outbreak is the latest example that the virus's resurgence can happen to even the best-prepared nations. The country has been feted as an example of how to effectively battle Covid-19, testing thousands of people a day and imposing a relatively strict lockdown in March.
ON OUR RADAR
- A man in Canada helped orchestrate the repatriation of around 100 South Africans and dozens of Zimbabwean students stuck in China in the midst of the pandemic.
- Alyssa Milano revealed on Twitter that she is dealing with hair loss after testing positive for Covid-19 antibodies. The actress has been battling symptoms of the virus since March.
- As Texas soars past 500,000 Covid-19 cases, state officials are redoubling their efforts to get residents to wear masks and practice social distancing.
- Australia's coronavirus lockdown led to huge inventories of unsold beer. But instead of going to waste, some expired ales and lagers have been serving a new purpose: powering a water treatment plant.
- US agencies have partnered with robotic pet manufacturer Ageless Innovation to combat loneliness and provide comfort and companionship for isolated seniors.
As schools reopen across the US and children attending school test positive for the coronavirus, getting students back into classrooms safely is at the forefront of many people's minds.
A group of experts from Stanford University School of Medicine have offered a number of suggestions on how the guidelines by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children's Hospital Association (AAP) can be used in schools to make reopening as safe as possible:
- School districts should create Covid-19 task forces that are made up of key stakeholders, including superintendents and parents, to develop procedures and policies for safety.
- Authorities should embrace a three-pronged testing approach which would see all students with symptoms tested, schools conducting random staff and student testing to identify asymptomatic patients, and students from high-risk households being offered testing more frequently.
- Schools should be flexible, with plans in place for virtual learning and the potential need for extra nurses, psychologists and social workers in schools.
TODAY'S PODCAST
"Masks work and testing works. Contact tracing works. We have 507 people here and we were able to manage it just doing that: testing, isolation, and contact tracing." -- Filmmaker Tyler Perry
In today's episode, Perry tells CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta how he set up a quarantine bubble for his cast and crew in order to get his production studio up and running again. Listen Now.
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