How Did Russia Score This Vaccine Victory?

'Russia recently announced that it has developed an effective vaccine against the COVID-19 virus despite less than 2-months of testing on humans. And a billion doses of the Sputnik V vaccine will be available by early 2021,' wrote Philippa Levine, a professor of history at The University of Texas Austin.

'Given that safe and successful vaccines are often a decade in the making, what did the Russians do to score this victory? Simple, they truncated and skipped the usual trials that preface the release of any new pharmaceutical and that help ensure its safety,' said Prof. Levine on August 17, 2020.