[nudephil (OP)]

Margaret sent us the following:

President Putin appears to have rushed the vaccine onto the market, saying that it could be effective for two years. What if the explanation is not that he is being ludicrously overambitious, but that they HAVE been working on it for over 2 years? “But it was discovered in China”- if deliberately released, would you release it in your own country? “No-one would be that wicked” - novichok? Yes, this does sound horribly like a conspiracy theory, but Occam’s Razor does not necessarily exclude them.

Any thoughts?

[Bored chemist]

What would be the point?
The more plausible conspiracy theory is that the Russians have stolen a vaccine idea and are rushing it through in the hope of making a fast buck.