Immune To COVID? New Study Suggests Why

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Tuesday morning the country has approved the world's first COVID-19 vaccine.

Putin said one of his adult daughters has already been inoculated with the vaccine, the Associated Press reported.

"I know it has proven efficient and forms a stable immunity," Putin said. "We must be grateful to those who made that first step very important for our country and the entire world."

The vaccine is named Sputnik V – after the first satellite launched into space by Russia in 1957 – and was developed by the Gamaleya Institute in Moscow, according to the Washington Post.

Scientists in Russia and elsewhere were quick to caution that the vaccine can't be considered safe and effective without Phase 3 testing that would involve tens of thousands of people.

"Fast-tracked approval will not make Russia the leader in the race, it will just expose consumers of the vaccine to unnecessary danger," said Russia’s Association of Clinical Trials Organizations, in urging government officials to postpone approving the vaccine without completed advanced trials.

A member of an international coalition working on viral threats, Konstantin Chumakov, told the Post "it is scientifically impossible to prove efficacy" without those widespread trials.

"Using it in general population before the results of Phase 3 trials are fully studied is a gamble," he said. "A Russian roulette, if you will."

Worldwide, more than 30 vaccines are in various stages of human trials, the New York Times reported.

Two vaccine candidates of the six in development in the U.S. are in Phase 3 trials now, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar told ABC’s "Good Morning America" on Tuesday.

"The point is not to be first with a vaccine – the point is to have a vaccine that is safe and effective for the American people and the people of the world," Azar said.

He said the goal is to have tens of millions of doses of the vaccine ready for the public by December.

Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund that paid for the country’s vaccination effort, said the vaccine will be given to willing front-line medical workers and teachers, the Post reported. He also said Russia will go ahead with a Phase 3 trial.

Worldwide, more than 20.2 million people are confirmed to have been infected with the new coronavirus, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. COVID-19 has caused nearly 738,000 deaths around the globe.

In the U.S. more than 164,000 people have died from COVID-19, and 5.1 million have been infected.

Latest Developments

United States:

-The Big Ten Conference announced Tuesday it has postponed the 2020 football season. It became the first of college football’s elite Power Five conferences to decide against playing football this fall because of concerns over the coronavirus, the Washington Post reported. Shortly after the Big Ten's announcement, the Pac-12 also announced that all fall sports, including football, would be postponed until at least Jan. 1.

-The Cherokee County School District in north Georgia has told 925 students and teachers to quarantine after possible exposure to COVID-19, according to a news release. The district said 59 cases of COVID-19 were confirmed among students and staffers. The district also announced it was closing Etowah High School to in-person learning at the end of the day Tuesday. The school had 14 confirmed cases of coronavirus infection as of Tuesday morning, with tests for another 15 students pending, the district said. That led to 294 students and staff being placed under quarantine.

-Florida Department of Health data shows there has been a 137% increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in children age 17 and under in the past month in the state, CNN reported. On July 9, Florida reported 16,797 cases in children. By Aug. 9, that number increased to 39,735 infections, the Health Department reported.

-A study from Duke University said wearing a neck gaiter – those thin, stretchy tubes of polyester spandex – may be worse than wearing nothing at all, the Washington Post reported. The study found that many more small droplets are released into the air when a person wearing a gaiter speaks. The gaiter's material could be breaking larger droplets into many smaller droplets that linger in the air longer, researchers said.

Worldwide:

-France extended a ban on mass gatherings of 5,000 people or more until Oct. 30, Prime Minister Jean Castex said. The move came as "the coronavirus epidemic has deteriorated over the last few days," he said.

-The government in New Zealand will temporarily reinstate lockdown restrictions in Auckland after four new cases were recorded in the city. They were the first new cases in the country in 102 days.

-Italy is scrambling to replace millions of two-person school desks before children can return to the classroom. The government has ordered 3 million single-person desks, the Washington Post reported. That's what the Italian school-furniture companies would normally build in five years combined.

For the latest coronavirus information in your county and a full list of important resources to help you make the smartest decisions regarding the disease, check out our dedicated COVID-19 page.