RUSSIA: WE’RE #1 VAX CHAMPS!

It appears the Russians may be at it again with a vaccine equivalent of the Sputnik, outpacing American vaccines with a stunning 100-percent efficacy rate. According to their consumer watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, these are the results of an early-stage trial of the country’s second registered vaccine candidate, labeled EpiVacCorona.
“The effectiveness of the vaccine is made up of its immunological effectiveness and preventative effectiveness,” the TASS news agency reported, citing Rospotrebnadzor. “According to results of the first and second phases of clinical trials, the immunological effectiveness of the EpiVacCorona vaccine is 100%.”
The state trials register stated that Phase I and II studies tested the safety, side effects, and immunogenicity of the potential vaccine in 100 people aged 18-60. A larger Phase III trial likely will involve thousands of participants and a placebo group as a comparison. 
Reuters, which covered the news, explained that the early-stage results should be met with caution. Testing in those cases is typically based on blood readings showing an immune response in subjects who have not been exposed to the virus. Larger, late-stage trials are based on actual infections suffered by participants in their normal lives.
TRENDPOST: Depending on who’s or WHO’s data to believe, to date, there have been some 70,000 virus victims in Russia, with a population of 146 million or 0.048 percent of the population. This compares to the U.S. with 332 million and 431,000 COVID deaths or 0.13 percent of the population.
We note these numbers not only to illustrate the comparison, but also to illustrate how small the percentage of deaths is per the general population, yet, complete societies have been locked down.