ABOVE: The Russian vaccine relies on a human adenovirus to prime the body’s immune response to SARS-CoV-2.
© ISTOCK.COM, CHRISTOPH BURGSTEDT
The first data detailing Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine—nicknamed Sputnik—was published last week (September 4) in The Lancet. Almost immediately, other scientists began to call attention to unlikely patterns in the data, asking for raw numbers to verify the study’s conclusions.
Enrico Bucci, a systems biologist and bioethicist at Temple University, published an open letter on his blog September 7 to draw The Lancet’s attention to suspected data manipulation. While he stresses that the letter is not an allegation, “the presentation of the data raises several concerns which require access to the original data to fully investigate.”
The study reports results of Russia’s Phase 1/2 clinical trial to assess the safety and effectiveness of its vaccine candidate, carried out by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute. The tests took place between June and July ...
