Twitter Briefly Restricts Access to Sputnik V Vaccine's Account Over 'Possible Security Breach'

17:40 GMT, 14 January 2021

Developed by the Moscow-based Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Sputnik V was the first SARS-Cov-2 vaccine to be registered anywhere in the world. The vaccine has been pre-ordered by over a dozen nations, with dozens more expressing interest.

Sputnik

Access to Sputnik V's official Twitter account was "temporarily restricted" on Thursday over "unusual activity from this account."

Clicking on the profile landed users on a warning page reading "Caution: This account is temporarily restricted," and "You're seeing this warning because there has been some unusual activity from this account. Do you still want to view it?"

Clicking "Yes, view profile" would take users to the account.

The restrictions against the account were lifted later on Thursday.

After restoring access to the account, Twitter explained that the restrictions against @Sputnikvaccine were put in place "due to a possible security breach from Virginia."

Earlier on Thursday, a World Health Organisation (WHO) official said Sputnik V's international certification was in process, and that the WHO was prepared to speed up the process. The same day, Russian Direct Investment Fund chief Kirill Dmitriev told Reuters that Russia would formally submit Sputnik V for approval with European Union health authorities in February.