People who have been vaccinated against coronavirus infection should not take an antibody test on their own, warned on Tuesday, December 1, the Israeli immunologist, head of the department at the Jerusalem clinic Hadassah ar Ha-Tsofim, Professor Yakov Berkun.
“In the West, in particular in Israel, it is impossible to sign the participants of any tests, that is, a person has every right to check everything he wants. Therefore, of course, they explain to the person who takes part in the tests that this is undesirable, they ask him not to do this, “RIA Novosti quotes him.
Thus, the specialist commented on social media reports that some participants in the third stage of trials of the COVID-19 vaccine did antibody tests, trying to check if they received a drug or a placebo. In this regard, there were concerns that the results of the study may be unreliable. Berkun admitted that a similar violation of the rules could occur in other countries.
Nevertheless, the professor is confident that independent checks will not affect the reputation of the vaccine itself.
“The mere fact that a patient knows or not whether he has received a placebo or a real vaccine cannot influence whether he gets sick or not and whether he will have a positive PCR test. This can only affect the subjective symptoms that he fills in the diaries, ”said the agency’s interlocutor.
The expert emphasized that even if the test subjects pass the antibody test, the main thing is to prevent the results from becoming known to the observing doctor.
“When we give the vaccine, there is always a control group that receives a placebo. They compare the symptoms and incidence of both groups. At the same time, neither the participant nor the researcher should know what the person received. But even if patients do such checks, they should not tell the doctor, so that at least the doctor does not know whether the patient received a real vaccine or a placebo, ”Berkun said.
He added that the assessment of the quality of the drug is carried out by special commissions under a strict protocol, which take into account the peculiarities of all stages of the test.
November 11 The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) noted that during the third phase of the study, the effectiveness was evaluated among more than 16 thousand volunteers 21 days after they received the vaccine or placebo. Based on the distribution of 20 confirmed cases (identified in the placebo group and in the vaccine group), it was determined that the effectiveness of “Sputnik V” was 92%.
The first coronavirus vaccine in Russia and the world was registered on August 11. The drug “Sputnik V” was developed by the specialists of the Center. Gamalei. The Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation has already announced the launch of the vaccine into production and issued a permit for a post-registration study.
The registration of the second vaccine became known on October 14. The drug was named “EpiVacCorona”, its development was carried out by the state scientific center “Vector”.
Another coronavirus vaccine developed by the Federal Scientific Center for Research and Development of Immunobiological Products named after V. Chumakov, may be registered in December.
All relevant information on the situation with the coronavirus is available on the websites of stopcoronavirus.rf and access vsem.rf, as well as by the hashtag #WeVotte. Coronavirus hotline: 8 (800) 2000-112.