Russian COVID-19 vaccine in jeopardy after Ukraine invasion

Sputnik V, Russia’s adenovirus-based vaccine against COVID-19, was a coup for Russian biomedicine when it was brought to market in late 2020. Used on an emergency basis by over 70 countries, hundreds of millions of people were soon given a first dose of the vaccine, which comprises recombinant Ad26 (encoding the coronavirus spike protein), followed by a second, heterologous dose of an Ad5-based vector. Cheaper than its US, European and Chinese competitors, and validated in an April 2021 Lancet study, Sputnik V catapulted Russian biomedical research far aloft — much as the Sputnik satellite did for Russian space scientists almost 65 years ago.

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41591-022-00042-y

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