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Oliver Stone, 74, gets Sputnik V Covid-19 shot, slams the West for 'ignoring' Russian vaccine: 'I'm hopeful'

The movie legend took the vaccine despite Western experts warning that Sputnik V would be harmful to people above the age of 60

Director Oliver Stone, who denounced the West for ridiculing the Sputnik V vaccine, has received a shot of the Russian coronavirus vaccine, reports state. Stone, 74, said he had "heard good things" about the Russian Covid-19 vaccine and simultaneously accused the United States for not paying enough attention to the vaccine. Russia began administering its Covid-19 vaccine to civilians last week, with its first batch being given to high-risk health and education workers aged 18 to 60. The Academy Award winning filmmaker said that he is "hopeful" that the Russian vaccine will work on him. He made the statement despite experts warning that Sputnik V would be harmful to people above the age of 60. The film producer, while speaking Russia's Channel One state broadcaster on Monday, December 14, said that he planned to return to the country to get the second dose of the vaccine. 

"I had a vaccine shot. I don't know if it's going to work, I got it a few days ago. I've heard good things about the Russian vaccine," he said. "I have to get a second shot in 45 days, so I have to come back. But I'm hopeful. It's a very good vaccine, I don't understand why it's being ignored in the West," Stone added. 

Stone's statement, however, was denounced by several social media users, many of whom said that the Russian vaccine is not trusted by the West because it was released before its Phase 3 trials. One user wrote: "I admire Oliver Stone's work but I'm not sure what his point is here. 1) Russia has an adversarial relationship w/ the US - see: 2016 & 2020 election, Syria, perpetual hacking 2) Russian Sputnik V vaccine was released before phase 3 trials & has been opaque about safety protocols." Another said: "Oliver’s been wavering in the tin foil hat community for decades. He may have finally gone full tilt." A third wrote: "Because it hasn't been tested by "the west", and nobody except Oliver Stone trusts Vladimir Putin."

Russia, in August, became the first country in the world to approve a vaccine for the novel coronavirus. Russian President Vladimir Putin, on August 11, made an announcement, stating that one of his daughters had already taken a dose of the new vaccine. The vaccine, which has been dubbed “Sputnik V” in homage to the world’s first satellite launched by the Soviet Union, however, was yet to complete its final clinical trial before its release. 

Dr Ohid Yaqub, senior lecturer at the Science Policy Research Unit at the University of Sussex, in August, had denounced Russia's move, saying that the country's "half-baked" vaccine could be "little better than water."

The Russian scientist, who had created the country's first novel cornavirus vaccine, this week claimed that the vaccine would offer at least two years of protection against the virus. His statement came as the designer of the Russian jab, professor Alexander Gintsburg, claimed that the vaccines produced by other companies like Pfizer/BioNTech will possibly not provide immunity to Covid-19 for more than five months.