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vaccine vials
Photo: DADO RUVIC / REUTERS
According to consistent Russian media reports, one of the leading developers of the Russian vaccine "Sputnik V" has been murdered in Moscow.
This is reported by the daily newspapers Kommersant and Vedomosti, as well as the news agencies Tass and Ria Nowosti.
Andrei Botikov, 47, was an employee of the Gamaleya State Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology in the Russian capital.
In his subject area he was considered a luminary, writes the »Kommersant«.
He was the author of numerous scientific papers.
According to Ria Nowosti, Botikow was also a co-author of the Sputnik patent.
Russian President Vladimir Putin honored him and other employees for their commitment.
prestige and propaganda
According to the Russian authorities, Bortikov was murdered on March 1st.
Apparently he was strangled with a belt.
The perpetrator has now been caught.
It is assumed that a "private dispute" between the two men had escalated.
In the corona pandemic, Russia had developed its own vaccines, including the “Sputnik V” vaccine.
Under great pressure from the authorities, the preparation was officially registered as the "world's first vaccine".
However, it soon became apparent that the phase III trials for testing had not yet been completed at this point.
The vaccine was apparently intended to be a propaganda success.
This is also indicated by the naming: Sputnik was the name of the first satellite that the Soviets launched into space before the Americans.
The suffix »V« stands for Victory.
The vaccine has so far been approved as a vaccine against the corona virus in around 60 countries, including the EU member state Hungary.
With the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the European Medicines Agency EMA suspended a procedure to assess the effectiveness of "Sputnik V".
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