The director of the Gamaleya Center of the Ministry of Health of Russia, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Gintsburg does not believe in the imminent end of the coronavirus pandemic. He believes that due to the rapid spread of the Omicron strain, the likelihood of a new, more dangerous mutation of the virus is increasing. Thus, "omicron" will not become a "natural vaccine", only vaccination can save from a pandemic.

No one guarantees you

“No, he (“omicron” -) will not help us get out of the pandemic for the simple reason that the more it multiplies and the more often it is transmitted, the more new strains may emerge,” Gunzburg told Interfax.

According to him, in order to prevent this from happening, 75-80% of the population needs to be vaccinated with the Sputnik V vaccine, since it is currently the most effective against the virus.

Otherwise, it cannot be guaranteed that a new, more dangerous strain will not appear, the scientist explained. “No one guarantees you, even I, that tomorrow, as a result of natural selection, a strain will not appear that will not respond to the vaccines that are currently being used,” the director of the Gamaleya Center emphasized.

In his opinion, the current collective immunity in the country is not enough. According to official statistics as of January 21, only 64.4% of the country's population has been vaccinated.

“And the most important thing is not just coverage, but the rate of vaccination. Coverage should be linked to vaccination rates. Vaccination should be looked at six months in advance, as the Ministry of Health correctly tells us, ”Gintsburg added.

He also warned that for unvaccinated people at risk, the new Omicron strain is no less dangerous than its Delta predecessor.

“I am among those who think that for those vaccinated it (“omicron” -) is much easier, and for the risk groups that we had before - the elderly and people with chronic diseases (hypertension, overweight , lung diseases, smokers, etc.) - for them it is as dangerous as the "delta". For that part of them that is not vaccinated, of course, ”the scientist explained.

The academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences also announced the absence of data on the hospitalization of those vaccinated with the Sputnik V vaccine with the Omicron coronavirus strain. According to him, laboratory data "confirm very good efficacy" of this vaccine against a new strain.

“Besides, in any case, judging by the statements of some of the chief doctors that I heard, there are no hospitalizations with the Sputnik vaccine, respectively, deaths and severe cases, too,” he noted.

At the same time, the scientist noted that so far there are no relevant statistics “for thousands and tens of thousands” of people. And data on the capital, he said, may appear at the end of next week.

Gunzburg added that the decision to modify the Sputnik V vaccine for omicron is made by the Ministry of Health. “If such a decision is made, we have all the developments in the center for this,” he stressed.

Earlier, the director of the Gamaleya Center of the Ministry of Health of Russia said that, if necessary, the adaptation of the vaccine to a new strain could take up to three months.

Andrey Isaev, Director of the Scientific Center for Molecular Genetic Research DNKOM, also does not believe in the imminent end of the pandemic. In an interview with TASS, he said that the antibodies produced by the body after being infected with Omicron do not protect against other strains.

“Unfortunately, a study came out that showed that immunity after the transferred “omicron” does not work well for protection against other strains. Antibodies after the "delta" still protect a little from the "omicron", and antibodies after the "omicron" on the "delta" have very little effect. This suggests that Omicron will not be the salvation and end of the pandemic,” he said.

Optimistic scenario

Earlier, virologist, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Head of the Cell Proliferation Laboratory of the V. A. Engelgardt Institute of Molecular Biology Petr Chumakov, in an interview with Ura.ru, suggested that the Omicron strain could be a live vaccine, created by nature, that is, “those people who get sick and carry this strain of coronavirus will become resistant to disease-causing variants.”

And the day before, in an interview with RIA Novosti, the chief infectious disease specialist of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency (FMBA) of Russia, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor Vladimir Nikiforov suggested that the coronavirus pandemic could end by summer.

“I would like to believe that the appearance of the omicron is a sign of the end of the pandemic. I think that the pandemic should end by the summer, ”the expert believes.

He added that some part of the population will be ill with a new strain asymptomatically and will not even notice it. Nikiforov noted that there is already a fairly large increase in the number of cases, but hospitals are not overcrowded, and this, in his opinion, suggests that Omicron is not as severe as the Delta strain.The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, nevertheless shares Gunzburg's opinion. At a recent briefing, he stated that "the pandemic is far from over, and with the incredible spread of omicron around the world, new options are likely to emerge."

He also stressed that while Omicron may not be as severe on average as the strains that preceded it, the notion that it is a mild disease is wrong. He stressed that "omicron" also leads to hospitalizations and deaths.

Over the past day, another anti-record for the incidence of coronavirus was broken in Russia. A total of 63,205 cases of COVID-19 have been recorded in the country. And in Moscow, 17528 cases were detected.

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