Since the pandemic began, world powers have made efforts to get to the
Covid vaccine
first .
The most obvious competition was between the United States and Russia, through the Pfizer and Gamaleya laboratories.
While the former innovated with the coronavirus and used the messenger RNA
platform for the first time
, the latter opted for the already well-known
viral vector
technology .
More than two years after the launch of both drugs, the Russian Direct Investment Fund came out to promote the recent publication in The Lancet of a study by Chinese scientists, according to which the Russian Sputnik V vaccine demonstrates 91% efficacy
against
the
symptomatic infection
by coronavirus and highlights: "It is the best indicator among all vector vaccines against SARS-CoV-2".
The Lancet article says
a few more things
that the Russian Fund statement does not address, while the official statement asserts a few other issues that the Lancet article does not mention.
The idea is then is to see that content a little beyond the clipping.
The main competitor within the same viral vector technology, the AstraZeneca vaccine, had an efficacy of
72.8 percent
.
The analysis also shows that the Pfizer vaccine had an efficacy of
90.9 percent
for
symptomatic disease
, one tenth below the Russian vaccine.
And that Moderna reached 93 percent.
For
asymptomatic infection
, the Gamaleya and Pfizer vaccines were not considered in the comparison of the study published on February 28, 2023. Moderna's was 71 percent effective and AstraZeneca's was 52 percent. .
The director of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The body has not yet authorized Sputnik.
Photo: EFE
As for cases of
severe disease
, Moderna's vaccine returned to 93 percent efficacy;
that of Pfizer, 95.7 percent;
that of AstraZeneca, 97.2 percent and Sputnik -once again-
does not appear
in the comparative tables.
To reach these conclusions, the Chinese scientists analyzed data from more than 30 scientific articles published between January 2020 and September 2022, in which more than
500,000 people
participated .
After postulating the reign of Sputnik V among vector vaccines, the Russian Fund went further and measured itself against the most demanded American vaccines: “Researchers also concluded that vector vaccines are much less likely to cause side effects compared to
vaccines
. mRNA vaccines.
This statement does not arise from the publication of The Lancet, which is limited to comparing the efficacy of vaccines.
The Russian fund adds: “Sputnik V and Sputnik Light have been developed on the basis of safe and proven human adenovirus vector technology for more than 30 years and are not associated
with serious adverse events such as myocarditis or pericarditis
.”
Adverse effects that have been attributed to mRNA vaccines.
Then he adds: "The
high safety and efficacy
of Sputnik V has been confirmed by the results of more than
50 clinical studies
and the data on the application of Sputnik V in the framework of national vaccination programs in various regions of the world, including Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America”.
Single-dose vials of the first component of the Sputnik V vaccine. Photo: AFP
It is not the first time that Russia has made this type of demonstration
to the detriment of messenger RNA vaccines
to try to position its product.
The strategy from Pfizer and Moderna, at least for now, has been not to respond.
The latest developments from these two laboratories were
bivalent vaccines
, adjusted to the Omicron variant.
The Russian document released in the last hours -in Spanish and Portuguese- highlights as innovative the fact that "Russian scientists used for the first time in the world a unique approach of heterogeneous reinforcement (a "cocktail of vaccines"
with
the use of human adenovirus serotype 26 as the first component and serotype 5 as the second component).
As explained in 2021, the
lack of the second component
was due to the fact that serotype 5 generated production problems due to its instability to cultivate it.
Then, Russia decided to market the "Sputnik Light" vaccine, a fantasy name whose translation is the first component of Sputnik V.
Now that the pandemic languishes, it was learned that the "Sputnik Light" has been incorporated into the Argentine vaccine portfolio, as a reinforcement or start of schemes in people over 18 years of age.
It occurs at a time when the cases of Covid
touch their historical floor
in the country, to the point that the Ministry of Health has decided from this Monday to discontinue the weekly reports and that the data monitor is a memory.
Alberto Fernández with Vladimir Putin in February 2022. "Sputnik Light" is now applied in Argentina.
Photo: AFP
But that the pandemic is dying does not mean that what is at stake does not continue to be a temptation for laboratories.
Covid is a long game, it is here to stay and as an eventual endemic disease it is likely to require at least
one periodic booster dose
as determined by the health authority.
Although the Sputnik V vaccine was approved in 71 countries and the Sputnik Light, in more than 30, the World Health Organization
has not yet given them the go-ahead
.
When the WHO was about to complete the expert reports to advance the approval process, Russia invaded Ukraine and the health goal was put on hold.
In the last year, from that war and as in other areas, Russia paid the cost
in the health care race
.
Pfizer and Moderna were able to move forward with their pediatric and "custom" vaccines with less competition.
Now, after long months of silence, the Russians seem to raise their hands again, ready to fight another battle.
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