Local media says that a Russian virologist who contributed to the development of the nation’s COVID-19 vaccination, Sputnik V, was found dead in his Moscow flat after a confrontation with an intruder.
The man who had been discovered murdered in his Rogova Street residence on March 2 was identified as Andrey Botikov, one of the 18 scientists who produced the Sputnik V vaccine at the Gamaleya National Research Center, Regnum stated, citing government sources. He had been said to have survived the assault in an earlier story.
The scientist was allegedly strangled with a belt after an argument, according to the Investigative Committee of Russia (ICR), which has now launched a murder probe. The 47-year-death old’s comes amid a succession of Russian elite members who have been discovered dead in suspicious circumstances over the past year, including academics and businessmen, while official versions hint towards a burglary gone bad.
In a statement, the ICR’s Moscow section omitted Botikov’s name but claimed that detectives had in the shortest period identified and traced the attacker. As a virologist at the Gamaleya National Research Institute since 2014, Botikov was a member of the group that developed the country’s vaccine, which Russia claimed had a clinical trial efficacy of 91%, significantly higher than that of other vaccinations.
However, local vaccine resistance has plagued the nation; according to data from Johns Hopkins University, little over 60% of the Russian population has received at least one shot, despite the fact that the number of virus-related deaths has exceeded 400,000 since the pandemic started.
According to a study by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the decision to release the vaccine onto the market before stage 3 trials, where it would have been evaluated for efficacy and safety, and the researchers’ reticent ness to share information with the international community also hurt its chances of success in the market.
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Mysterious Deaths of Influential Russians
Little over two weeks have passed since the apparent demise of Major General Vladimir Makarov, a senior member of the Russian military, in the opinion of state investigators, who committed suicide after being removed from duty. Botikov’s apparent demise follows that of Makarov.
Vyacheslav Taran, a Russian billionaire and the creator of Forex Club, was killed in a helicopter crash close to his residence in southeast France, according to confirmation from the Russian Embassy in Paris in late November.
Anatoly Gerashchenko, the former director of the Moscow Aviation Institute, passed away last year after falling down many flights of stairs.
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