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MOSCOW: A Russian trial testing the effectiveness of revaccination with Sputnik V injection to protect against new coronavirus mutations is producing robust results, researchers said on Saturday (February 27).
Last month, President Vladimir Putin ordered a review by March 15 of vaccines produced in Russia to determine their effectiveness against new variants that are spreading in different parts of the world.
“(A) recent study carried out by the Gamaleya Center in Russia showed that revaccination with the Sputnik V vaccine is working very well against new coronavirus mutations, including coronavirus strains from the UK and South Africa,” said Denis Logunov, deputy director of the center, which developed the Sputnik V.
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The results of the trial are expected to be published soon, but this was the first indication of how the tests are going. No further details are available yet.
So-called viral vector injections, such as Sputnik V and a vaccine developed by AstraZeneca, use harmless modified viruses as vehicles or vectors to carry genetic information that helps the body build immunity against future infections.
Revaccination used the same Sputnik V injection, based on the same adenovirus vectors. The trial indicated that this did not affect effectiveness, Logunov said in a statement to Reuters.
Some scientists have raised the possible risk that the organism also develops immunity to the vector itself, recognizing it as an intruder and attempting to destroy it.
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But the developers of Sputnik V disagreed that this would pose long-term problems.
“We believe that vector-based vaccines are actually better for future revaccination than vaccines based on other platforms,” Logunov said.
He said the researchers found that antibodies specific to the vectors used by the vaccine, which could elicit an anti-vector reaction and undermine the work of the vaccine itself, vanished “as early as 56 days after vaccination.”
This conclusion was based on a trial of an Ebola vaccine previously developed by the Gamaleya Institute using the same approach as for the Sputnik V injection.
Vector immunity is not a new problem, but it has come under new scrutiny as companies like Johnson & Johnson anticipate that regular COVID-19 vaccines, such as annual flu shots, may be needed to combat new variants. of the coronavirus.
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