by Olga Dobrovidova – Undark Magazine
In August, the Russian government unveiled, ostentatiously and in style, “the first vaccine recorded in the world opposed to Covid-19”. Although it demonstrated its protection and effectiveness in a Phase III trial, an emergency use authorization has been issued to make it available for limited use in the general public. The Lancet shows the effects of Phase I and Phase II trials that measure vaccine protection and its ability to drive an immune response.
I will have to admit that, as a scientific journalist turned scientific communicator, I am strangely attracted to the Sputnik V vaccine. Their deployment has been so important, layered and face-to-face that I, like many other commentators, simply cannot look away. – even if we know that making us look is the goal of this game.
I am not in a position to comment on the validity of the effects of the studies presented in Lancet’s article, or the recent reviews that the article has received, not yet from the pages of a journal in an open letter from more than 3 dozen scientists. . However, since even the study authors recognize that “more research is needed on the effectiveness of this vaccine for the prevention of Covid-19”, it would possibly be more appropriate for now to talk about the case of the Russian Vaccine for what it already is: a public relations exercise. According to this measure, I believe that there are some issues that apply to clinical journalism and clinical communication.
First, the current Russian government relies on others who knew how to exploit a clinical victory for propaganda purposes. It’s no coincidence that the face of Yuri Gagarin, the first user in space, is at least as recognizable as that. And it is no coincidence that the new Russian vaccine is called Sputnik, a Russian word that entered the English language with a beep in October 1957. Ironically, Sputnik was also called a much-loved state-backed search engine, designed to combat a wave of so-called anti-Russian content, and recently shut down. It turns out that the Russian government actually believes that Sputnik, one of the ultimate triumphs of the twentieth century, is a and a hard symbol that cannot be contaminated with any number of outrageous stagings or white elephant projects. eval s 40 ez_write_tag ([[580,400], ‘realclearscience_com-under_first_ paragraph’, ‘ezslot_0’, 125, ‘0’, ‘0’41]
Second, while the external aspect of the government’s media operation boasted of a high-profile vaccine announcement through Vladimir Putin (he casually announced the news at a government meeting) and held awarely online briefings for foreign hounds, the remedy for national hounds was much smaller. I have heard exasperated accounts of unanswered media questions, ghost hounds through public relations officials, and vaccine researchers who are prohibited from communicating with independent hounds. Meanwhile, state media had all the access they could want, as long as they didn’t. I need to ask the wrong questions. In telling its story of good luck, the Russian government has redefined the word “opaque” when it comes to public responsibility.
Third, and perhaps as painful as possible, the government’s recent communication on vaccination, an incredibly delicate and delicate subject, was a bit like that pigeon playing chess by throwing coins, betting and claiming victory anyway. Permanently and conscientiously crafted drug progression rules, but it also placed clinical journalists and communicators who challenge the government’s official line in the awkward position of taking a position that can be interpreted as a rejection or impairment of the importance of vaccination. In this world upside down, when you criticize Sputnik V, you run the risk of being seen as an anti-vaccine.
Finally, the predictable foreign reaction to the Russian vaccine does something insidiously bad for virtually everyone involved: it puts the Russian government on the defensive and fuels the larger propaganda story that Russia is surrounded by enemies that only have a chance to stab it. This kind of vaccine nationalism plays with ingistist instincts: if everyone needs to catch you, you can only count on yourself. When the government instinctively begins retaliation, it involves more narrative, which in turn makes everyone even more suspicious of foul play. And so Sputnik V creates some other vicious public relationship orbit. eval (ez_write_tag ([[580,400], ‘realclearscience_com-under_second_paragraphe’, ‘ezslot_4’, 123, ‘0’, ‘0’]));
Commentators have argued that Russia’s non-compliance with public aptitude criteria sets a damaging precedent. Government officials tried to justify this violation of the rule by declaring, in essence, that there was no time for themselves, given the inastrous scenario with Covid-19. Some advocates of vaccine deployment have even invoked libertarian justifications that would make Ayn Rand smile. But in Russia, this is not a precedent at all. The logic of “no time for” is a government favorite who doesn’t like to communicate with their citizens, just them.
However, as young people say, “words will never hurt us. “What harm can the Sputnik V vaccine do in the end in the lives of other genuine people?Won’t everything disappear like waves in a pond? Most likely not. By recommending that others in certain occupations be empused, the government is necessarily pressuring them to participate in a Phase III deced trial. And it’s moderate to worry that, despite the government’s promises, many of those other people will. volunteer to participate, will have been “voluntary” to do so.
Moreover, Russia’s subversive action is not carried out in a bubble. This can inspire an equally reckless push in the United States to pass a vaccine before the November election. It is the challenge of relying on individual actors to show collective moderation in the face of a Message of tempting purpose: once a gesture is made, the perverse incentive to continue becomes too strong.
I hope the Sputnik V vaccine will nevertheless be safe. Second, long-term generations could regard this issue as an unfortunate false step, a slightly bitter note in the history of global collective victory over the Covid-19. I also hope that this cascade of public relations will not become the Sputnik moment for which Russian science is best known.
Olga Dobrovidova is a senior editor at Skoltech, a personal studies university in Moscow, Russia. Skoltech is somehow concerned about the progression of the Sputnik V vaccine. Dobrovidova is also interim president of AKSON, the Russian Association for Scientific Communication, and vice-president of the European Federation of Scientific Journalism. eval – 40-ez_write_tag ([300,250], ‘realclearscience_com-longgest_content’, ‘ezslot_11’, 126, ‘0’, ‘0’41’]
This article was originally published in Undark. Read the original article.