Scientists around the world are working hard on more than 170 projects to find a suitable vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, and according to a WHO list published in July, six vaccine candidates have already reached or are in the middle of the decisive phase III studies.
But even if all the procedures are extremely fast-paced, a
new vaccine was not expected until the end of the year at the earliest, rather
early 2021. Despite numerous concerns, Russia has simply skipped the crucial
safety review in an expedited procedure and approved a first vaccine, dubbed
"Sputnik V."
Immediately after approval, Russia plans to test the vaccine in a larger group of people.
According to the Russian Health Ministry, tests carried out on about 800 people
are expected to confirm the results of the first studies.
Typically, the approval procedure stipulates that vaccine
candidates are only approved after passing the phase III study. The vaccine is
tested on several thousand volunteers, which is the only way to detect side
effects.
According to the Russian Ministry of Health, doctors and
teachers should be vaccinated first from October, followed by the rest of the
population, step by step. According to the Ministry of Industry, "several
million" monthly doses will be available at the beginning of the year.
According to official figures, Russia currently has almost
900,000 people infected with the coronavirus and 15,000 Russians have died from
COVID-19, so the death rate remains remarkably low in relative terms.
The "Gam-COVID-Vac
Lyo" vaccine is a vector vaccine developed at the Gamaleja Institute
of Epidemiology in Moscow. For this vector vaccination, the dangerous disease
genes of the viruses were removed, leaving only a kind of vehicle for
transporting the virus, which doctors refer to as a "viral vector."
These harmless vectors also contain the corresponding genetic
material: if the vaccine is to be targeted against smallpox, a smallpox gene is
added to the genome of the vector virus and, in the case of SARS-CoV-2
vaccines, it adds a coronavirus gene accordingly.
The body of the vaccinated person recognizes the introduced
genetic material as a foreign body and generates antibodies and specific T
cells against it. Therefore, the vaccine antigen is produced by the vaccinated
person's cells.
If you use vectors already known, as now in Russia, you save
time, as their safety has already been proven. However, vaccinations against
vectors can always have side effects, for example when the immune system
attacks the vectors.