A Technology for Sputnik V Updating Was Created If Any Coronavirus Mutation

The Gamaleya Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology has developed a technology that allows the COVID-19 vaccine to be updated within two days if the virus mutates. This announced the director of the center Alexander Gintsburg. "This is the same technology based on adenoviral vectors, when a new sequence is literally synthesized within a day by the sequence of a spike protein which changed its primary structure, and the next day it is inserted into the used vector," Gunzburg explained in an interview with RIANews". According to him, the question is now being discussed whether it will be necessary to conduct all phases of the new vaccine testing. There are examples in the world when a drug was allowed to be tested on a limited sample of up to 100 people. If the new vaccine gives the same protective effect as the previous one, it can be immediately put into mass production, Alexander Gintsburg said. Coronavirus mutations have become a serious problem since last fall, when scientists announced a new, more contagious strain of SARS-CoV-2 emerging in the UK. Several dozen countries around the world have suspended flights to Britain. In January, the head of Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova announced that a Russian who returned home from the UK was detected with the "British" strain of coronavirus. In March, the South African variant of COVID-19 was as well detected in Russia, and presumably, its difference from the typical strain is a greater ability to spread. In mid-February, Rospotrebnadzor announced registring the world's first test system for detecting coronavirus mutations. Three COVID-19 vaccines are currently registered in Russia: "Sputnik V" from the Gamaleya Center, "EpiVacCorona" from the Novosibirsk center "Vector" and "KoviVak" developed by the Chumakov Institute. in in January, Russia began mass vaccination but less than five percent of the country's adult population was vaccinated so far. Alexander Gintsburg also said that the Gamaleya Scientific Center has begun preclinical trials of a vaccine against the coronavirus infection in the form of nasal drops. It will be two-component. Only a doctor can enter it. A nasal spray vaccine was also developed at Oxford University in collaboration with AstraZeneca. The company is now preparing to test it. Testing will last about four months, the Financial Times wrote.