Written by Staff Writer
Simon Ivancey, CNN Staff Writer
Russian President Vladimir Putin has revealed in an interview published by Newsweek that he received an experimental nasal vaccine developed in the Netherlands.
“I was injected with an experimental preventive vaccine developed in the Netherlands,” Putin told the magazine’s senior political writer, Brian Whitaker. “I don’t know how many doses I received, but they were enough.”
Newsweek’s article included images from Putin’s double-length video recording.
Dr. Alan Colmenares, scientific adviser to the World Health Organization and senior scientist at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, said that it was possible the vaccine was a new type that hadn’t been previously reported.
But he added that, unless it was tested on humans, it was “inconclusive.”
“If this type of vaccine were effective, then it would be important, because currently, [spinal] injections are the only way to prevent infection” with spinal infections in long-term people, he told CNN.
More widespread use of the vaccine would involve several trials and open up questions about the possible side effects and the efficacy of the treatment.
“The question would then be if the whole process has been demonstrated effective, does that mean that this would then be deployed in clinics? And then at what point should you make it more widely available to everyone — who would take this as an injection rather than a nasal spray?” he said.