Twitter lifts restrictions on Sputnik V account, after brief suspension

They are currently calling on subscribers to write to Twitter requesting the social media giant to restore their access to the account.

A nurse prepares Russia's "Sputnik-V" vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) for inoculation at a clinic in Tver, Russia October 12, 2020. (photo credit: REUTERS/TATYANA MAKEYEVA/FILE PHOTO)
A nurse prepares Russia's "Sputnik-V" vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) for inoculation at a clinic in Tver, Russia October 12, 2020.
(photo credit: REUTERS/TATYANA MAKEYEVA/FILE PHOTO)
Twitter lifted restrictions briefly imposed on the official account promoting the Russian Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, the website showed on Thursday.

The account was restricted for around an hour earlier in the day with a notice saying Twitter had seen "some unusual activity" on the page.

"This account was temporarily locked in error by an automated spam filter. This action has been reversed and the account is now fully operational," Twitter said in a statement.

The Sputnik V account said that, according to an explanation from Twitter, the brief shut down was due to "a possible security breach from Virginia, USA." The account did not provide any further details.
The official account for the Sputnik V novel coronavirus vaccine - @sputnikvaccine - was suspended on Twitter for a brief period on Thursday.
The countries sovereign wealth fund, which runs the Sputnik V account and markets the vaccine abroad, laid out a statement earlier noting that they were not immediately detailed of the conditions surrounding their ban, the reasoning behind the suspension or the restriction placed on the account.
"Via Twitter, we have shared all the information, and we’ve been open and transparent on how the vaccine works," the developers wrote in a statement. "Via Twitter, we have offered AstraZeneca to use one of the components of Sputnik V and agreed on joint clinical trials."
It then called on it's subscribers to write to Twitter requesting the social media giant to restore access to the account.
"Caution: This account is temporarily restricted...because there has been some unusual activity," the suspended Twitter page for the vaccine read, although it still allowed for users to still peruse and access the page
Sputnik's Russian developers say clinical trials, still under way, initially claimed it to have an efficacy rate of over 90% back in December, higher than that of AstraZeneca's vaccine – and similar to those of US rivals Pfizer and Moderna.
On Thursday, the head of the Russia's sovereign wealth stated that a one-dose course of Russia's Sputnik vaccine against COVID-19 will have an efficacy rate of 73-85%.

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Authorities said on Monday that Russia would conduct a clinical trial of a one-dose version of its coronavirus vaccine, describing it as a possible "temporary" solution to help countries with high infection rates make the drug go further.
Some Western scientists have raised concerns about the speed at which Russia has worked, giving the regulatory go-ahead for its vaccines as well as the launching of large-scale vaccinations before full trials to test Sputnik V's safety and efficacy have been completed. Russia says the criticism is unfounded.