The Gamaleya Center is working on a new vaccine against COVID-19

Sputnik V no longer protects against COVID-19 from January 2023. This was announced by the head of the Gamaleya Center that developed Sputnik, Alexander Gintsburg, who added that this happened after the spread of the “Kraken” variant of the coronavirus. Mr. Gunzburg expects clinical trials of the new vaccine to end on December 10, but admits that by the time it enters civilian circulation in March next year, the drug may be partially or completely no longer relevant. However, the Ministry of Health assured Kommersant that the updated vaccine can be introduced into civilian circulation immediately after the safety of the drug is confirmed – in four weeks.

The Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine completely lost its protective properties after the emergence of the Kraken strain of COVID-19. About this in an interview “Gazeta.Ru” said the head of the Gamaleya Center, Alexander Gintsburg. According to him, Sputnik V protected in the first two years of the pandemic. However, since mid-summer 2022, when the first variants of the “omicron” coronavirus appeared, its effectiveness first fell eight times, and then by twenty times. “And when the XBB.1.5 version of the Omicron (Kraken) appeared – in January 2023 – Sputnik simply stopped protecting completely. Therefore, it was necessary to change the antigenic composition of the vaccine last summer,” said Mr. Gunzburg.

Thus, the expert concluded, there is nothing to vaccinate in Russia now, “except for Convasel (a vaccine developed by the Federal Medical and Biological Agency based on the N-protein of coronavirus) and EpiVacCorona from the Vector Center based on peptide antigens.”

Alexander Ginzburg added that clinical trials of the updated vaccine should end on December 10. The new version of the drug may enter civilian circulation by March 2024. At the same time, Alexander Ginzburg admitted that “there is a possibility that this vaccine in March will no longer be very relevant or completely irrelevant.” Mr. Gunzburg believes that the pandemic is not over, and COVID-19 is not only present in the population, but also adapts very well, constantly evolving.

It should be noted that the Russian Ministry of Health proposed abandoning mass vaccination against coronavirus and moving to vaccination of vulnerable categories of citizens in July 2023. The department considered this decision “appropriate” due to the formation of a high level of collective immunity against COVID-19 and the stabilization of the epidemic situation in Russia.

Vulnerable categories, the Ministry of Health clarified, include persons over 18 years of age who have not previously had coronavirus or have not been vaccinated; persons over 60 years of age; as well as citizens with chronic diseases; persons with primary or secondary immunodeficiencies, including HIV infection, autoimmune diseases, cancer/oncohematological diseases.

In September, it became known that a number of Russian regions began vaccinating the population against COVID-19 for a fee. The fact is that since April 2023, regions have stopped receiving coronavirus vaccines at the expense of the federal budget.

In January-August 2023, regions purchased 109 thousand packages of COVID-19 vaccines. This is one and a half times more than for the entire last year – 69.6 thousand packages, RBC calculated based on data from the analytical company Headway Company (specializing in monitoring tender purchases in the pharmaceutical industry).

The chief freelance specialist of the Russian Ministry of Health on infectious diseases, Professor Vladimir Chulanov, told Kommersant that the Sputnik vaccine with a new antigenic composition has passed preclinical trials – they were completed this summer. After this, the developers received funding and permission to conduct clinical trials. The tests are being carried out jointly with the Moscow Department of Health; the estimated period for completing observation of participants in the clinical trial is about four weeks. Mr. Chulanov emphasized that the clinical trial stage allows us to confirm the safety and effectiveness of the drug being studied.

“From a legal point of view, today nothing is holding back production: the Gamaleya Center can produce the vaccine now, so that from the moment clinical trials are completed, it can be released, this is their authority, since they also have the necessary production capacity,” said Vladimir Chulanov .-If the clinical effectiveness and safety of the vaccine are confirmed – and Academician Alexander Leonidovich Ginzburg expressed confidence in this – the vaccine can be immediately introduced into civilian circulation.”

Mr. Chulanov at the same time noted that the country is currently not experiencing an active increase in morbidity and a significant increase in the number of hospitalizations.

According to the federal operational headquarters for the fight against coronavirus, during the week from October 9 to October 15, 16,852 new cases of infection were identified, and 2,776 people were hospitalized.

The chief physician of the 2nd diagnostic department of JSC “Medicine” (clinic of Academician Roitberg), Maxim Tersky, points out that vaccines did not protect against infection even before the advent of Omicron – they made it possible to reduce damage to health during recovery. “Vaccines generally cope with this task,” continues Mr. Tersky. “Post-infectious complications, which are now commonly called long COVID, were recorded twice as often in unvaccinated people as in those vaccinated with two or more doses. But if a person has been ill, then one cannot count on the effectiveness of the vaccine in protecting against complications. After all, the virus that causes the disease forms a much more stable, full-fledged immunity than any vaccine. This is the reason for the inevitable end of any epidemic – with or without vaccines.”

Experts interviewed by Kommersant confirm that the current vaccine has ceased to respond to numerous mutations of the virus. However, molecular biologist and researcher at Moscow State University Sergei Kharitonov believes that it still protects people from risk groups from negative scenarios. He does not entirely agree with Alexander Gunzburg’s statement that the coronavirus pandemic continues. “The virus really circulates in the population, it infects many people, it changes, but we see that the infection has become easier, people without concomitant diseases do not suffer as much as before,” explains Mr. Kharitonov. “The new vaccine is needed to protect vulnerable groups of the population , because we now have to live with Covid. But there is no need to sound the alarm that Sputnik is not as effective as before. The virus is also not so evil anymore.” Let us remind youin May, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the end of the coronavirus pandemic as a public health emergency and proposed treating COVID-19 as a seasonal viral infection.

Olga Shuppo, scientific director of the Grand Clinic network of immunorehabilitation and preventive medicine clinics, believes that given the rapid mutation of the virus, the best defense against it is the awareness of every citizen and society as a whole in observing preventive measures.

First of all, timely isolation of sick people, ventilation of rooms, disinfection of surfaces, washing of hands after visiting the street and public places, Ms. Shuppo points out. The head doctor of the Nearmedic clinic on Maroseyka, Anna Rybakova, agrees that the existing vaccine is no longer suitable, so doctors should recommend taking precautions, and people at risk should respond to changes in the body, not tolerate fever on their feet, but contact specialists, to avoid the development of complications.

Natalia Kostarnova