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are going too slowly. Kudrin was one of the architects of the current programme but has called for the Kremlin to tap more of its resources and divert more
of its oil revenues into paying for the programme: specifically, he has argued for raising the oil price threshold, after which oil tax revenues are siphoned off and sterilised in the National Welfare Fund (NWF) from $42 to $45, which
would create billions of dollars of extra budget revenue for investment.
According to Kudrin’s latest estimates for November 2020, only 70% of the planned spending on the programme has been fulfilled. The most problematic areas were with “labour productivity” (65%), “culture” and “science” (67–67% each) and “small and medium-sized businesses”
(75.7%), The Bell reports. The demogra- phy national project was the best with budget execution of 86.2%. Most of the national projects, on which Putin signed a decree in May 2018, were actually launched only from January 1, 2019, Kudrin says. The implementation plans were only formulated and the all-impor- tant instructions added only by the end of 2019, according to Kudrin.
uses a deactivated form of the actual coronavirus that has been stripped of its ability to replicate. Production the vaccine has already been launched, although its release is only planned for March after preliminary trials
are complete.
By contrast, Russia’s leading Sputnik V vaccine is a vector vaccine that has coronavirus RNA injected into a regular flu virus. The fact that the CoviVac vaccine is in effect identical to the wild version of the coronavirus is believed to improve its efficacy against a wider range of mutations of the original virus.
The CoviVac has been produced by the Chumakov Centre, which has a long pedigree of immunological work.
The Sputnik V vaccine was developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute, which has previously worked on effective vaccines against Ebola, and it was also rushed through the approval process.
The pre-emptive approvals had raised concerns among some scientists in the West, but inoculations with those first two shots began on a mass scale in Russia only after trials were concluded and showed success.
A peer-reviewed study published in Britain’s The Lancet medical journal found that Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine is 91.6% effective and has put paid to much of the criticism of the skipping through the usual approval process by Russia. Sputnik V was approved
in August and late-stage trials began in September. Mass vaccination
was launched in December, after
Russia has approved its third coronavirus vaccine CoviVac for domestic use, and production has been launched before trials complete.
Russia approves its third coronavirus vaccine CoviVac
for domestic use, production launched before trials complete
bne IntelliNews
Russia has approved CoviVac, its third coronavirus vaccine, for domestic use, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said on state TV, although large-scale clinical trials have not started yet.
The CoviVac vaccine is based on
a highly successful vaccine Russia developed to prevent polio and could be more effective against mutations of the coronavirus (COVID-19), as
it is a “whole-virion” vaccine that
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