Russia's Sputnik V Vaccine Excluded

Above, Asya and I having lunch in Santa Monica a week before my move to New Mexico.

Before the pandemic started, Asya and I were talking about a visit by her to New Mexico for a couple of weeks or so. She resides in St. Petersburg, Russia. The pandemic put a pause on that. She was stuck in Denmark for a few months when the pandemic hit and travel restrictions were enacted.

As everyone is aware, the pandemic has hit every country. 

Russia claims to have developed the first vaccine for COVID-19, called Sputnik V. 

According to the Moscow Times:

Russia has confirmed 7,464,708 cases of coronavirus and 205,531 deaths, according to the national coronavirus information center. Russia’s total excess fatality count since the start of the coronavirus pandemic is around 596,000.

On the number of Russians vaccinated, ABC News reported:

Vaccination rates have remained low, too, with only 32% of the country’s 146 million population having received at least one shot of a vaccine and only 28% fully vaccinated.

Unfortunately, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Drug Administration does not recognize Sputnik V vaccine, which will cause some problems when new rules are announced in November on foreign visitors to the U.S. In 2019, over 300,000 Russians visited the U.S.

Axios reported:

New rules allowing fully vaccinated international travelers to enter the U.S. beginning in November will exclude those vaccinated by Russia's Sputnik V vaccine, the Washington Post reports.

Why it matters: Sputnik V's exclusion will mean millions of fully vaccinated individuals won't be eligible to travel to the U.S., per the Post.

• It will also have a wider international impact, as Russia has plans to distribute its vaccine to around 70 countries.  

State of play: According to the new rules, non-citizens entering the country must be inoculated with vaccines approved for emergency use by either the Food and Drug Administration or the World Health Organization, per the Post.

• These include the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines used widely in the U.S., as well as the AstraZeneca vaccine. It also includes the Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines developed by China.

WHO has paused its review process of the Sputnik V vaccine over concerns about its manufacturing process, according to the Washington Post.

It will be interesting to see how things shake out once the new rules are announced.