"Military doctor" about coronaviruses and vaccines

Three reasons to get vaccinated against coronavirus and a story about vaccines

Kristina Ivanova, "Real Time"

"Exchanging coronavirus for rhinovirus is very good. But I very much doubt that any ethical committee will allow people with coronavirus to be infected with another viral infection," says scientific journalist, internist Alexey Vodovozov.

Photo: 22century.ru

Not so long ago, he was in Kazan – he was invited to talk with Tatarstan citizens on the topic: "Myths, misconceptions and mistakes in medicine" at the National Library of Tatarstan as part of the Milmax Science lecture hall. The well-known popularizer of scientific knowledge spoke about coronavirus mutations and three reasons for vaccination against COVID-19, the horrors of traditional medicine, bloodletting, standing on nails, finding your doctor, placebo effect, homeopathy, dietary supplements, physiotherapy and much more. "Real Time" cites the first, "coronavirus" part of the lecture.

"We have made a good vaccine, but we could not submit it properly"

– Let's start debunking myths. Many people have a misconception that the coronavirus vaccine changes the genome, after a while the vaccinated person grows a tail, and all sorts of mutations occur in a person…

– A lot of people are surprised how the vaccine was created so quickly. Earlier it was predicted that it would take 5-10 years. But you need to understand that, for example, vector vaccines have been developed since the early 80s, mRNA vaccines - since the late 80s. That is, there is a huge period of research. By the way, the vector vaccine has already been registered in 2019, but this is not particularly emphasized now. It was an Ebola vaccine.

We had live vaccines first. The next significant step was inactivated vaccines – as "KoviVak". And the next stage was split, fragmented vaccines. And today vector vaccines are a completely new approach, a new milestone in vaccination and medicine in principle. The use of systems for delivering something needed inside our cells is the medicine of the future, the fight against various tumors and other diseases, including genetic ones. This is a very good prospect. And even as a vaccine technology, it is quite interesting. Because, in fact, we get a carrier in which you can change cassettes. And we can put there not one cassette, but 5-10 pieces. And as a result, we will get a universal vaccine against all existing infectious diseases – it will be enough to introduce it once. It is clear that revaccination will be required. But this will be a completely different approach.

James Gilray. "Cowpox, or the miraculous effect of a new vaccination!" (1802). Source: wikipedia.org .

Stories that the whole thing is embedded in the genome – another round of the spiral. Almost the same thing was told about Jenner's vaccine against smallpox, which in the XIX century began to spread across Europe. If we look at the cartoons, then there are still, just like now, people depicted after vaccination, who have a cow's head growing out of their shoulder, or a tail, or they walk on all fours and moo. Today they tell all the same things, almost one-on-one. But if we look at the nature of the adenovirus on which the Sputnik V vector vaccine is made, we will see: it has a non-integrable genome. That is, in principle, he does not know how to integrate into something. Unlike those viruses that can do this (for example, HIV).

The most interesting thing is that vaccines train cellular immunity as well. It turns out that the cell that temporarily produces the coronavirus S-protein dies, our T-cell immunity learns to recognize it – and then kills similar cells.

And another important thing is that immunity training takes place at the injection site: for example, in my hand. There is a shaft from the cells of the immune system, and the "training material" does not go beyond this place. But immune memory cells are formed there – as always when the immune system encounters any pathogen. These cells will travel through the lymph to the nearest lymph node, multiply massively there and spread to all other lymph nodes. Therefore, it takes some time to form immunity. Then, at the next encounter with the virus, the memory cells will react very quickly. Yes, maybe they will not prevent infection and disease – in some cases, we will be able to catch the virus after vaccination. He can even multiply in us for a while, but the "trained" immunity will still crush him. So yes, some may get sick after vaccination. But we must understand that the vaccine reduces the risk of severe outcomes and deaths!

There are several countries that have been vaccinated very massively. These are Israel and San Marino. In the latter, the entire population is vaccinated with a "Satellite". They have practically no new cases of the disease, the epidemic has gone down very sharply.

As strange as it may sound, we get all the best information about how Sputnik works from Argentina. Our Ministry of Health can take an example from our Argentine colleagues, who regularly post reports on how many side effects there were, what they are, what is the field effectiveness. They also tested the Sputnik Lite at the same time. Today we know that the figures that were announced by the RDIF on Sputnik Lite almost correspond to the level of clinical research. In Argentina, they conducted it, looked at it: yes, everything is really normal in this sense.

That is, we have made a good vaccine, but we could not submit it properly. We still have to learn and learn. I urge PR specialists to join this campaign in full force, because you are very much needed now, explanations will also be required.

"We are vaccinating to stop the evolution of the virus"

– Is it worth getting vaccinated with a coronavirus that has already been ill? Coronavirus mutates, will the vaccine act on emerging strains?

– When we get vaccinated, we have three reasons for this, and only one of them is personal. We protect ourselves to the extent possible, reduce the risks of severe course, fatal outcome. The other two reasons are a duty to society, about which it is absolutely not fashionable to talk today. We live in a society, we observe the rules of the road, we honor the Criminal Code. We have certain restrictions, fire regulations and so on. And there are anti-epidemic measures written in the same blood. And they really need to be observed. We don't have collective immunity yet. We must be protected completely and completely – that's why we need to form this collective immunity. First in Kazan, then in Tatarstan, then in Russia, Eurasia and the whole planet. We are vaccinating to stop the evolution of the virus!

After all, the coronavirus develops, repeatedly passing through millions of people. Yes, the mutations there are random. But if they start helping the coronavirus to escape from our antibodies or be better transmitted, it will take hold. The rest will die, but it is these coronavirus lines that will survive and take over the world. He also has an intraspecific struggle going on, and we are very interested in who will win there. Because if something brutal and contagious wins, it won't suit us very much. It would be better for us if it was weak, dead, so that it would leave us as soon as possible. But, unfortunately, it doesn't look like it yet.

Now the Indian version is very widely distributed. With collective immunity, it turns out that if he comes to our mini-population, he will bump into one person – and there is immunity. If he bumps into the second one, there too. Finally, he entered the third one, but there are antibodies there – and he couldn't really reproduce, and now his cycle was interrupted, and he stalled. That is, all the branches that came here have stopped, it does not develop further. It turns out that we stop its development and greatly reduce the likelihood that something new will appear.

And it is possible, by the way, that it will appear. Yes, we are very lucky, no matter how strange it may sound. Coronavirus is such a light version of the infectious apocalypse, because it is not as deadly an infection as smallpox, for example, and not as contagious as measles. And it mutates much more slowly than the flu virus. But it is better not to give him such opportunities at all. Because if suddenly he learns to enter the cell through some other receptors, then we will all have problems.

There is also a third reason why we get vaccinated. There are people who are contraindicated in any vaccines at all. These are usually severe patients – with congenital or acquired immunodeficiency, people with terminal cancer. And we, the vaccinated, stand up as a wall of shields, and they hide behind us, and we close them from infection. The infection will be deadly to them, and such manipulations on immunity as vaccination will be too. So we cover a certain number of people with ourselves, but we live in a society, because that's what they usually do.

"I have three dozen different vaccines in me"

– There are coronavirus vaccines registered abroad. What does Sputnik look more like and what would you be vaccinated with if you had a choice among all the vaccines in the world?

– Sputnik is most similar to two variants of foreign vaccines. As we know, it consists of two adenoviruses. The first one is type 26, the Johnson and Johnson vaccine is made on it. The second part is based on adenovirus of the fifth type, as one of the Chinese vaccines. That is, there is no complete analogue of the "Satellite". But "Sputnik Lite" is about like a "Johnson's" vaccine. On the other hand, they are all made differently. Even "Johnson's" differs in the amount of genetic material that is inside. We have a little different, they have their own. What exactly will be put inside the vector depends on the developers. And they are all different in the world.

What would I try? Probably some kind of mRNA vaccine. Because it's just interesting. And then I would be vaccinated with a vector vaccine, which is also interesting, because this is a completely new thing. I have three dozen different vaccines in me. As far as I know, we are going to develop an mRNA vaccine, because this is a promising technology. If it is ever made, at least for the sake of interest, I will graft it.

"It looks like rhinovirus is fighting coronavirus"

– There were rumors that rhinovirus can defeat coronavirus in a person. Has research started on the treatment of covid with rhinovirus?

– So far, there are only observations, research has not begun. In my opinion, this is an interesting approach. From the point of view of "Why not try it?". Because to exchange a coronavirus for a rhinovirus is very good. Another question is whether such a thing as medical ethics interferes. I very much doubt that any ethical committee will allow people to be infected, for example, with coronavirus, another viral infection. Most likely, at the level of the ethics committee, this case will be closed, will not be allowed, will not be given. But the observations are interesting. Maybe some folk rhinovirus parties will begin. There are chickenpox, so why not be rhinovirus? Judging by the first results, it really looks like the rhinovirus is fighting the coronavirus.

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