Coronavirus: two vaccines could be merged to give greater immunity

The combination of Oxford / AstraZeneca with the Sputnik V, whose developers signed a cooperation agreement a few weeks ago to conduct clinical studies using one dose of each formulation, could generate immunity for up to two years, according to Gamaleya center director Alexandr Guintsburg, although he warned that “more work will be needed to prove it. experimentally.”

According to the Russian agency SputnikGuintsburg said in press statements that “as a result of the use of this vaccine hybrid of two components, memory cells will form better, and the vaccine will obviously protect the vaccinees not for three or four months, but for at least two years, although, of course, more work is needed to test it experimentally. ” .

The Nikoli Gamaleya Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and the pharmaceutical company R-Pharm on December 21 signed a memorandum of cooperation in the fight against covid-19 with the Anglo-Swedish multinational AstraZeneca.

Both vaccinations use a platform (or technology) called “non-replicating vectors”: vectors are viruses that are genetically modified so that they do not have the ability to reproduce in the body (and therefore harmless) and are used to transport the genetic material of the virus from which you want to vaccinate.

Of the Oxford/AstraZeneca it uses the chimpanzee adenovirus as a viral vector, the same in both doses; while the Sputnik V uses two human adenoviruses (26 and 5) to elicit a larger and longer lasting immune system response.