In race for coronavirus vaccine, Russia ramps up rhetoric to defend Sputnik V

Russia, too, had turned up the patriotic volume along with the vaccine push. In a promotional video that was part of the rollout for Sputnik V — whose name itself taps into the pride of the Soviet Union being first out of the blocks in the Cold War’s space race with a satellite in 1957 — the vaccine is portrayed circling a coronavirus-infected earth, wiping out the disease as it goes.

The Kremlin-directed campaign to promote Sputnik V has largely dismissed any criticism — especially claims that Russia is cutting corners on safety — as anti-Russian smears. Meanwhile, Russian officials are attempting to cast doubt on rival vaccine hunters with unsupported assertions, such as making claims that Western approaches to find a vaccine are less effective and riskier. ...