Russian astronaut after receiving Sputnik V vaccine: “Coronavirus is terrible” | the Chronicle

The astronauts Oleg Artemiev and Nikolai Chub and various Training center employees Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin received the first dose of Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus in the emblematic Star City, northeast of Moscow, as part of the new groups in Russian society that began to be vaccinated.

“The vaccinations are usually done quickly, but in this case the process took a little longer: we visited the doctor, filled out the necessary documents and waited for the vaccine to thaw,” Artemiev spoke about the procedure the cosmonauts underwent, which included a mandatory medical examination before inoculation.

he 49 year old cosmonaut said that in order not to compromise implementation of the Russian space program you must be in good health and he recalled that for him, being vaccinated is a common thing that he does since his childhood.

“All my life I have been vaccinated and I can compare myself to those people who did not for reasons of principle. They got sick and were often worse than they should be.“, He detailed in statements published in recent hours in a statement from Roscosmos, the Russian Federal Space Agency.

With regard to the coronavirus, that in Russia has infected 2,819,429 people and killed more than 50,000 since the start of the pandemic, Artemiev assured that ” the disease is terrible. Many of my friends have suffered a lot, and there are even those who lost their lives due to the virus. “

Like the rest of the planet, the space industry in which some 170,000 people work across the country, he was no exception and was affected by the disease, which killed 78 employees and infected 13,000 workers in the sector.

The development of cosmonautics plays a fundamental role in Russia, a legacy of the Soviet Union, which also made important contributions to space science and technology.

In 1957, he launched Sputnik-1, the first artificial satellite in history, after which the vaccine against the SARS Cov-2 virus developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute, which is the only one to use two human adenoviruses, was baptized. as vectors, one different in each dose administered intramuscularly with a difference of 21 days.

The the vaccine showed an efficacy of 91.4% Based on the analysis of the final checkpoint data, obtained 21 days after the administration of the first dose, the Gamaleya Institute said in a statement last Monday, adding that in the “Severe coronavirus cases were 100 percent.”

Another milestone in the space race came in 1961 when Yuri Gagarin, aboard the Vostok-1 spacecraft, became the first human to reach space.

During this year marked by coronavirus space programs continues and in October, two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut aboard the Russian Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) in record time, taking 3 hours and 3 minutes after completing just two laps around the Earth.

But to achieve this feat, the crew members had to serve a strict two-week quarantine in Star City, a small town near Shchólkovo, northeast of Moscow, where astronauts train at the Center. Gagarin, and 17 others. days in Baikonur.

The arrival of the vaccine is essential for the preparation of cosmonauts to resume their usual course before the pandemic.

Meanwhile, from Monday December 21 in Moscow, new population groups will have access to Sputnik V.

Sergei Sobianin, the 62-year-old mayor of the Russian capital, said that transport, media and industry workers who so desire will be able to receive Sputnik V, so it is estimated that an additional million people will have the opportunity to be immune to the coronavirus.

“I had a bit of a headache but I felt fine“Sobianin told reporters after applying the first dose.

The Minister of Health of Russia, Mijaíl Murashko, confirmed a few days ago that all regions of the country have received the doses for a large-scale vaccination, the application of which is free and voluntary.