The professor responded, what is more important now in the fight against coronavirus: I would suggest not to create catastrophic scenarios yet.

Professor Aurelija Žvirblienė also welcomed the current discussions on the Russian vaccine at the Delfi Day fair.

“You know, it seems to me that too much attention is being paid to this Russian vaccine now, because the EU has already ordered so many vaccines that there is no shortage, even if there is a theoretical possibility to buy a Russian vaccine vaccine, probably by the end of the year. I think that the discussion is artificial, and due to the effectiveness of the vaccine itself, an article was published in The Lancet, but we do not yet have the actual data that would exist if the vaccine were submitted to the European Medicines Agency for registration and registration Then the data would be clear, because a scientific publication is not yet proof that this is the case, “said the professor in the program.

“The requirements for the European Union are slightly different from those of third countries. By purity and other criteria, I do not really understand such a great interest in the Russian vaccine,” added the interlocutor.

It is true that there have been reports in the media in recent days that some mutations can have a major impact on the effectiveness of vaccines.

“I would not like to spread very disturbing knowledge here, but it is natural that if there are mutations in the component of the vaccine that is part of the vaccine, and that is what happens in the structure of protein S, it is natural that there is a threat and some doubt about the effectiveness of the vaccine ”, says the professor.

“I would still suggest not creating a catastrophic scenario yet, we have to wait for more real world scientific data to come in. I mean when we have a lot of people vaccinated in the UK those variants of the mutations are spreading there so we need to see if it reduces the number of infected people or not. Then the answer will be clearer, “added the interlocutor.

When asked if it would be possible to continue living with the virus, the professor assured us that we needed to find ways to protect people.

“I think we need to have a shield, we need to have a strategy. If we do nothing, we do not try to vaccinate people, we will not get out of the mask stage and there will be nothing. We have to fight the virus completely, and how long will we live like this? It is a very thankless question here, it is impossible to predict what it will be like ”, assures the professor.

“The most realistic scenario is that if we vaccinate the risk groups and really reduce hospital congestion, we will solve the problems of the health system, it will be very helpful. We have to worry about the people who are most at risk of contracting this virus, and if others do not want to be vaccinated, it is impossible to force them ”, says the interlocutor.

According to her, the very existence of vaccines is very important to us because it gives people the opportunity to make their own decisions.

“I want to say how important it is that the mere presence of vaccines gives us freedom of choice. It gives me freedom of choice and I would not like to play Russian roulette and get better vaccinated. Until there were no vaccines, we had no chance ”, says the interviewee.

Sequence studies conducted around the world revealed that the SARS-CoV-2 type S, which dominated at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, evolved into a more aggressive and more adapted human spread: the type L, which is currently prevalent ” says Prof. Head of the Kaunas Clinical Laboratory Medicine Clinic. Astra Vitkauskiene. For its part, Santara Clinics has reported that in recent months 1,000 coronavirus genomes have been sequenced from samples collected in December and January in Lithuania.