President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the vaccine developed in the country against the new coronavirus infection unique. According to him, the drug will be "different from others." The head of the department of microbiology of latent infections at the Gamaleya Institute, Viktor Zuev, questioned the effectiveness of the Ukrainian vaccine in the fight against COVID-19 and urged the neighboring country to first create a high-quality drug and only then talk about the results.
"Very low [I evaluate the effectiveness of the drug] … There was no serious attempt [create a vaccine] … Ukrainian virologists somehow bypassed this in silence "- Viktor Zuev said in an interview with the Daily Storm.
“All applications are very inexpensive. But we will do it. <…> Well, you at least do something! I spoke at one time with Ukrainian virologists. They were very interesting people, we had close contact with them, including on the pneumotropic virus. But as for vaccine affairs - this is not a path where you can just talk. You can talk, but only after you have done something "- added the scientist.
In Russia, according to the virologist, talks about creating a vaccine were more reasonable. For example, in the production of drugs for Ebola and MERS.
“When we started talking about the COVID-19 vaccine, we had two vaccines against the MERS-CoV coronavirus behind us. Ebola vaccine, which was recognized by the WHO as the best in the world. It was then that the talk that we were going to release a vaccine was justified. And just words - we want to make a vaccine - they are empty "- Zuev emphasized.
The virologist noted that if the clinical trials of the Ukrainian vaccine are successfully completed, Russia will not need to purchase the drug from a neighboring country. The Russian Federation, according to Zuev, has its own safe and high-quality developments.
“You bought yourself a beautiful dress, the same dress was bought by a neighbor. Should I buy a dress from her? No, it is the same here. Our vaccine is safe and effective wherever we go. You don't need to overeat with vaccines. We also have a vaccine from the Gamaleya Center, the Vector Center, a vaccine from the Chumakov Institute is on the way, and another vaccine is being made in St. Petersburg. Why do we need more vaccines? - said the head of the department of microbiology of latent infections of the Institute named after Gamaleya.
He also urged other countries to develop their own vaccines and "do not sit idly", as, according to the scientist, COVID-19 has come for a long time, perhaps forever.
Earlier, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the country is developing a "unique vaccine" against coronavirus, which has already passed the preclinical phase of the study.
“We cannot talk about everything, because we have to undergo clinical trials. <…> She, to tell the truth, is unique. This is not pathos or populism. She is unique because she is not like the others - Zelensky noted in an interview, part of which was shown on the 1 + 1 TV channel. - We have materials, research was conducted, but not in humans. I cannot speak today about the timing, but in any case, you must understand our approach: if anyone has a confirmed vaccine earlier, we will purchase in any case. "
The Ukrainian agency UNIAN said that the president announced his readiness to test a new vaccine on himself. According to one of the developers of the drug, president of DiaPrep System Inc. Mikhail Favorov, the vaccine will appear in 9-12 months.
Anatoly Altshtein, professor at the Gamaleya Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, in turn, suggested that Ukraine could follow the Russian path and register its vaccine earlier than Favorov announced.
“It takes many months before clinical trials of a vaccine, more than half a year. But we set an example in this area: we carried out the first and second phases quickly and immediately registered the vaccine. And registration means that you can already use the drug. They can go the same way. Then it will take two to three months. But during this time it is necessary to produce the vaccine in sufficient quantities Altstein shared his predictions with the Daily Storm.
The day before, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine said that they were not going to buy the Russian vaccine against the new coronavirus infection, since it had not yet passed the examination.
“No applications for state registration of the Russian vaccine Gam-COVID-Vak (Sputnik-V) have been received in the prescribed manner. In addition, according to available information, this product has not undergone examination and registration in the competent authorities of the USA, Switzerland, Japan, Australia, Canada or the EU, which actually makes it impossible to purchase and use it in Ukraine , - noted in the department.
In early October, opposition Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to transfer the Russian vaccine against COVID-19 to Ukraine. The head of state announced the readiness of the Russian Federation to provide the neighboring country with the drug, but for this the Kiev authorities must issue an official request.
Over the past day, 7,320 new cases of coronavirus infection have been detected in Ukraine. The total number of cases was 332,262. 116 people have died in the last 24 hours, 2679 people have fully recovered. For all the time 6043 people died, 134 898 people were cured.
