1/3 Thread: I was glad to see the Russians publish their phase 1 data, previously I was critical for their lack of transparency after their public declarations following licensure of "Sputnik V" or whatever the heck they were calling it. Some positives and negatives: https://twitter.com/TheLancet/status/1301837663021010944

2/3 Thread: On positive side was their lyophilized formulation: Freeze-drying makes it possible to deliver vaccine in remote areas without a cold chain. The Russians are good at this, they pioneered the creation of "dryvax" that made it possible to eradicate smallpox in 60s 70s

3/3 Thread: Downsides: Not very high virus neutralizing antibodies, hard to compare study to study, but levels of VNA similar to Astra Zeneca vaccine in NHPs that was partially protective, also logistic complexity of 2 different vaccines for prime and boost, respectively.

I'm curious to know what might happen if they boosted instead with our recombinant protein vaccine, if that prime-boost strategy might induce higher VNAs? Not sure how we could make that happen - it certainly would be an interesting exercise in vaccine diplomacy...

Russia India USA #VaccineDiplomacy during this terrible time? That would be beyond cool, but I wouldn’t know how to begin brokering something so ambitious. Maybe @WHO @DrTedros could help us begin?