Tatarstan chief epidemiologist: ‘Saying a person will not fall ill after a vaccine is telling him a lie’
Revaccination is six months after first vaccine
Revaccination will help to protect yourself and close ones from contracting COVID-19 or a severe case of this dangerous viral infection amid the active mutation of coronavirus, thinks chief epidemiologist of the Tatarstan Ministry of Health Care Dmitry Lopushov. As he noted, first of all, the administration of a vaccine against COVID-19 will help protect the organism from mutated coronavirus variants, particularly the Delta virus.
“Not so much a vaccine as the presence of antibodies matters today. This is why revaccination is done six months after the second vaccine. Again, don’t forget the first vaccine,” the doctor says.
Lopushov says that “any vaccines registered in Russia” can be used for revaccination:
“The Sputnik is for both the first and second vaccine, CoviVac can be next, the CoviVac can be the first vaccine and the Sputnik the second one. All combinations are permitted.”
He sadly added that the number of those who haven’t yet received a vaccine is high enough. The chief epidemiologist recommends the vaccination of the elderly:
“It is necessary to put all efforts to vaccinate parents and then, consequently, do not worry about them. The same applies to the pregnant. Their circle should also be vaccinated.”
Moreover, if a person intends to receive a coronavirus vaccine for the second time, it is better to make an appointment on the website of State Services and wait for your turn, since the priority is given to those who haven’t yet been vaccinated.
“A vaccine doesn’t affect fertility”
As for women who are expecting a baby, Lopushov considered them as a risk group with a severe case of the disease. And two people at once suffer in case of the disease — the future mother and the unborn baby. The Sputnik V is permitted to be used in pregnant women from week 22, the other vaccines are restricted for them at the moment.
“The unquestionable compliance with all sanitary and epidemiological requirements — mask-wearing, social distancing — is the second option. And if a pregnant woman isn’t ready to receive a vaccine, though this is today’s best method, the pregnant woman’s circle should be immunised,” Lopushov stressed.
Answering a question about the impact of vaccines against COVID-19 on human fertility, Lopushov said that Tatarstan has examples when women got pregnant after vaccination against coronavirus, and the pregnancy is going fine. There are also men who conceived a baby after vaccination, their wives’ pregnancy is developing well.
The chief republican epidemiologist thinks that “the vaccine doesn’t affect fertility.” He put an example of a big number of pregnant women abroad who were vaccinated and gave birth to a child.
Vitamins don’t protect from coronavirus
As usual, a flu vaccination campaign will start soon. Russians will traditionally be administered vaccines against the seasonal disease in autumn. Dmitry Lopushov emphasised that thanks to the active flu vaccination last year, nearly 60% of the population of the republic was immunised. No case of this viral disease was registered in Tatarstan and across Russia. Even if a person was inoculated against COVID-19, it is also necessary to be vaccinated against the flu, Lopushov advises. Time should be left between two vaccines, no less than a month. Medicines are already arriving in the republic, he added.
Dmitry Lopushov touched on those cases when people refuse vaccination thinking that the use of vitamins D and C will protect them from contracting coronavirus. He said that precisely such people ended up on ventilators and many died. At the same time, he didn’t deny the benefit of vitamins taken for health, but he stressed that they “won’t protect one from catching the coronavirus infection.”
The epidemiologist denied the link between blood type and the course of the disease as well as the possibility of falling ill. According to him, blood type has nothing to do with either the possibility of infection or the course of the disease: people fall ill and are put on ventilators with any blood type.
“There is no perfect vaccine in the world”
Again, there was asked a question if vaccination provided a hundred per cent guarantee against coronavirus and why those who have already been vaccinated are infected. In reply to this, Dmitry Lopushov highlighted:
“Sadly, there is no perfect vaccine in the world. This is why there is vaccination, revaccination, and the efficacy of vaccines is high enough, in the region of 95% and higher. In world practice, a vaccine is permitted for mass use if its efficacy is more than 50%. This is why saying a person will not fall ill after receiving a vaccine is telling him a lie. The efficacy of any world vaccines, not only our Russian ones, is above 95%.”
Lopushov doesn’t deny that one can fall ill after being administered a vaccine against COVID-19. However, the presence of antibodies that appear after vaccination will influence the course of the disease. He added that the virus will be inactivated with antibodies, this is why it won’t be able to wreak havoc on the organism.
“According to our and foreign data, if a person falls ill after vaccination, the case is mild or moderately severe. We don’t usually see such patients on ventilators,” Lopushov stressed.
As an exception, he put an example when antibodies weren’t found after the injection of two components of a vaccine. Then, it is recommended to use another vaccine for revaccination, he noted.