COVID-19 is accelerating the wave – Kommersant FM

In Russia, an almost threefold increase in the number of people infected with COVID-19 has been detected over the month. In the last week of September, 14 thousand people were infected, compared to 5 thousand at the beginning of the month. Health Minister Mikhail Murashko also reported that the number of cases has increased. The head of the department, however, clarified that the number of hospitalizations is not increasing. Rospotrebnadzor, in turn, claims that not a single case of Pirola infection has been recorded in the country – this variant of coronavirus has begun to spread in America, Europe and Africa.

Meanwhile, current vaccines are unlikely to be able to provide serious protection against this mutation when it reaches Russia, believes Vasily Vlasov, vice-president of the Society of Evidence-Based Medicine Specialists, professor at the Higher School of Economics:

“The new strain appears to be even more infectious. As for its virulence, that is, the ability to cause severe diseases, we can already say quite confidently that it, at least, does not differ for the worse from “omicron”.

Now people have acquired immunity after the disease, some still have it after vaccination. Even if a high wave of morbidity rises now, we can hope that everything will proceed quite benignly.

I think that the number of people sick with coronavirus infection will grow along with the number of people sick with all colds until mid-winter. At some point, the flu will also play a role, which may give higher rates. This will probably happen after the New Year.

If we talk about vaccines, then only those that were created against the original version of the Chinese virus were tested for protection against infection. All subsequent ones were studied simply by the changes in the blood that they cause.

This is a much less reliable way of assessing the protective effect of vaccines, but there is reason to believe that the variants currently being produced have some protective power.”

Meanwhile, Rospotrebnadzor announced the suspension of vaccination of adolescents aged 12 to 18 years. The decision was explained by the fact that the composition of the drug needed to be updated. Clinical studies of Sputnik V, adapted for new variants of the coronavirus, should begin soon, the Ministry of Health reported.

It will be possible to increase the production of vaccines, if necessary, in a short time, believes Nikolai Bespalov, development director of RNC Pharma:

“It is clear that demand volumes are now much lower than at the peaks of previous waves. There are effective means for prevention in the form of vaccines; they can be quickly modified to accommodate current strains and ensure a production volume that will allow the start of a mass vaccination program.

So we are waiting to see how the situation develops. If it worsens, then large-scale vaccination can be launched within one and a half to two months. The drugs have essentially been developed; we just need to ensure their release in the required volume.”

During the waves of COVID-19, many immunologists still recommend taking zinc, selenium, and vitamin D to boost antiviral protection.

Now patients have access to drugs that can minimize the risk of complications when infected with new strains, emphasized Kirill Masliev, Candidate of Medical Sciences. However, according to him, the most effective of them are dangerous to take unless absolutely necessary:

“Nowadays, quite serious antiviral drugs have appeared in the arsenal, including domestic ones, which, according to a number of studies, can reduce the risk of hospitalization and death by more than 90%.

This is a very significant protection provided that they are used in the first days of the disease. We are talking about such drugs as, say, Skyvira and Mirobivir. So the question of vaccination is not as pressing as it has been since the emergence and spread of coronavirus infection.

Of course, not every person who gets sick needs to take this type of medication right away. This should be done only after consulting a doctor, when he considers that there are risks of severe morbidity, including in patients of the older age group and in people who have concomitant chronic diseases.

This is a fairly serious group of strong antiviral drugs, and, of course, this category of drugs has side effects.”

At the same time, the head of Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova said that it is not necessary to introduce a universal mask regime due to the increase in the incidence of influenza, COVID-19 and other viruses.

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Petr Shadrin