Vaccination against coronavirus infection continues. What is the difference between drugs, do they protect against new strains of COVID-19? These and other questions from readers were answered by a specialist.
Doctor of the highest category, chief physician of the Nearmedic network of clinics
What is the difference between domestic vaccines? (Elena, Moscow)
– In our country, two drugs are currently used1… The first, Sputnik V, is a vector vaccine. The vector is an adenoviral molecule, it is inactivated, that is, it cannot multiply. As a postman, she carries an S-protein, a spike, on which the production of virus-neutralizing antibodies is stimulated. When a virus enters the human body, the first contact occurs precisely with the spike of the coronavirus. Antibodies that are produced after vaccination block the S-protein, so the virus cannot affect the body.
Second drug, “EpiVacCorona”, peptide, is also aimed at neutralizing the virus in the body. It does not contain a biological carrier of the virus. This vaccine contains artificially created fragments of viral proteins.
Which of our vaccines protects longer? (Artem, Perm)
– It is difficult to assess so far. There is currently no unambiguous information about how long antibodies will live in the body of a particular person, how long they will give protection and what antibody titer is sufficient. The immune system is different for each of us, it changes over the course of life, so the immune response cannot be programmed. It can only be studied, which is what everyone is doing now. Therefore, it is too early to draw conclusions, but the developers of the Sputnik V vaccine talk about the duration from several months to a couple of years, and the creators of EpiVacCorona – about several months of protection.
Any vaccine is not a 100% guarantee that a person will not get sick at all. But it is absolutely certain that a person who was vaccinated, even if he gets sick, will transfer the infection easier and with fewer complications. The vaccine will help the body respond quickly to further infection and protect against serious clinical manifestations. When a vaccinated person encounters a virus, the level of virus-neutralizing antibodies may rise. Therefore, it is advisable to check their number every few months.
Which vaccine is easier to tolerate? (Anna, Tver)
– It’s too early to compare. But we see that when using the Sputnik V vaccine, sometimes there are undesirable effects, sometimes there is an increase in temperature, muscle weakness, nausea, and headache. The duration of the symptoms is from days to three.
Now they talk and write a lot about the drug “Sputnik Light”. Why is it being developed? (Alla, Mozhaisk)
– This is a question for the developers. According to the head of the National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology. N.F. Gamaleya of Alexander Gintsburg, the launch of the “light version” of the vaccine will allow to bring down the wave of morbidity and especially mortality, when it is impossible to immediately produce the required amount of a two-component vaccine.
Does a person have the right to choose a vaccine? (Sergey, Pushkino)
– Of course, if there are already several drugs where the procedure is planned. The second domestic vaccine has just begun to enter the civilian circulation, so it is necessary to clarify the situation in the medical institution.
How soon will we have imported vaccines and how do they differ from our preparations? Julia, Domodedovo
“I don’t have that data, but the Oxford vaccine is like Sputnik V.”
Will our drug protect against the British variant of the virus? (Igor, Tambov)
– A question for manufacturers, previously the head of NITsEM named after V.I. Gamalei Alexander Gunzburg noted that the Sputnik V vaccine will protect against a modified strain of coronavirus found in the UK. He explained that the mutation affects only a small point on the surface of the virus protein. But while the issue is being studied.
Sources:
1. Maria Ordzhonikidze, doctor of the highest category, chief physician of a network of clinics .