Russia claims its once-ridiculed Sputnik V Covid vaccine will offer TWO years’ protection against the virus
THE RUSSIAN scientist who created the once-ridiculed Sputnik V vaccine has boldly claimed their jab will offer two years of protection against Covid-19.
Professor Alexander Gintsburg, the designer of the Russian drug, has also calmed the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is unlikely to protect for longer than five months.
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The head of Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology said on Soloviev Live channel: “Our vaccine was created on the platform also used for the Ebola vaccine.
“Experimental data received at that point demonstrate that a similar vaccine would offer protection for two years, maybe more.”
He also claims a 96 per cent effectiveness rate, with the remaining four per cent suffering no more than a runny nose, cough and slight fever, but their lungs won't be affected.
It comes as Sputnik V and the Oxford Astrazeneca vaccine have announced a trial to see if a mix and match of the two jabs may be even more effective.
This ‘mix and match’ tests represent a turnaround from a Russian attempt to tar the Oxford jab - which uses benign chimpanzee virus - as a "monkey vaccine”
'LONGER PROTECTION'
This “new chapter” in east-west vaccine relations did not extend to the Russian view of the Pfizer injection.
“It is difficult to say how long Pfizer's drug protection will last,” said Gintsburg.
“But based on the general action mechanism of such drugs we think the period of protection will last four (or) maximum five months”.
He was asked if this period would pose a problem since the protection would not reach a critical mass in this time period.
Gintsburg said this was “absolutely right, absolutely right - I've got nothing to say in objection”.
He also claimed the West had bad-mouthed the Sputnik V vaccine in a bid to undermine its market position, and seemed to support President Donald Trump but claiming politics had become entwined with getting out the Covid-19 drugs in America.
“The market for this vaccine amounts to tens, maybe hundreds of billions of dollars,” he said.
“Corporations and people, who are behind all this money, fight for the profit.”
He said: “No holds are barred here.”
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In the US “a group of vaccine researchers almost played a crucial role during elections.
“They announced that they had created a vaccine three or five days after the elections were over.
“Before that, the vaccine was not yet ready.”