the debate on Sputnik light and “under 80%” vaccines

Does it make sense to live as a loss the news that the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine could be replaced by its limited version, the Sputnik light? What if Argentina kept a vaccine portfolio of one lower efficiency than those who play in the Premier League (Pfizer, Moderna and Sputnik V himself), How could we stand up to the pandemic?

Three experts analyzed the subject and the coincidence was complete: vaccinate a larger percentage of the population with vaccines of apparently “inferior” performance is a overcome strategy (in this context and in any context) than what could be formulated as vaccinating fewer people with higher doses of effectiveness.

Two of those consulted, both PhDs in biochemistry and principal investigators from Conicet, seem to have agreed to appeal to the metaphor of fire emergency to talk about Covid-19.

On the one hand, Jorge quarleri, professor at UBA and “virologist” at the Institute for Biomedical Research on Retroviruses and AIDS (INBIRS): “Imagine you have a fire. Six firefighters are delivered with a hose that contains little water. Do you tell them to start work as soon as possible or do you offer to wait for a larger team to arrive, which will take at least an hour? Without a doubt you choose the first“.

Daniela Hozbor, “Vaccinologist” at the Institute of Biotechnology and Molecular Biology (IBBM), and professor at the UNLP, suggested leaving aside all sorts of less urgent questions, such as what will be the shelf life of antibodies produced by vaccines in “unit dose” mode.

“I wouldn’t care now. It is not known which vaccines will ultimately be. We don’t know what’s going to happen. The urgency is to put out this fire that we have, ”he said.

The consultation of Bugle it was born from the approval in Moscow of the “half-vaccine” Sputnik V, now renamed – as a complete vaccine in unit format – “Sputnik lightWhich only includes the first of the two components of the full version (adenovirus 26).

This is because, although the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has announced that it will continue to prioritize the administration of the two doses in Russia (the efficiency in this case reaches 91.6%), he clarified that the new proposal, with less efficiency, to 79.4%, result a reasonable option for your international partners.

It’s obvious, includes Argentina, beyond the fact that the government promised this Thursday that people who have already received the first dose (or are receiving it these days) will have access (three months later, as we know) to the second, so to complete the device.

For this promise to materialize in the case of Sputnik, 3.9 million doses of component 2 are expected to arrive in the country in the coming weeks. This Saturday, a plane must leave for Moscow to find a departure, of which Quantity of units have been specified or of which component they are.

Strategy

Among the 76% effectiveness of the first dose of the vaccine Oxford-AstraZeneca, 79.3% (although, it should be noted, the data has not been officially published) of Sinopharm, plus 79.4% of Sputnik Light’s coverage, Argentina would end up with a portfolio of vaccines with “less than 80%” efficacy.

In order to Javier Farina, Doctor of Infectious Diseases from the Argentinian Society of Infectious Diseases (SADI), is still good news: “At the level of public health, the strategies of a dose at around 80% are much better than aiming to vaccinate less than people with doses that offer ninety protection “.

As well as remembering that “the primary goal was always to have vaccines over 60% effective in improving the course of the epidemic,” he noted an interesting fact: “Sputnik Light is almost the same as Johnson and Johnson’s vaccine. It’s the same platform ”. He thus referred to the vaccine said “Janssen“, also in single-dose format, being evaluated five months ago by ANMAT.

Farina also reassured on another subject: “The single dose strategy cannot be compared to the escalation of infections in Chile. One dose of Sinovac vaccine (N. de la R .: One of the most used in the neighboring country) offers an efficiency of 3% … 3% is very different from 80%“.

A bad name

For Daniela Hozbor, “what is very unfortunate is the name. Call her ‘light‘it was a bad decision because gives the idea that it is aa light vaccine“.

“The truth is, these are really spectacular vaccines. Later we will see the duration of immunity, whether a booster is needed or not. But it is an ideal strategy for this moment of the pandemic, ”he said.

Furthermore, he added, “there are results which indicate this: the United Kingdom bet on vaccinating more people with just one dose -Mainly from AstraZeneca- when they had 60,000 infected per day and 2,000 deaths per day. Today, they have no more than 2,000 cases per day and less than 50 deaths ”.

For Hozbor, “comparing the percentages of efficacy between vaccines does not make much sense”, due to the different criteria used in the design of the trial protocol.

In the newspapers it means that 80% declared by Sinopharm must not mean the same as 80% by Sputnik light.

The ranks correspond to a second percentage: the so-called “efficiency”.

While efficacy is “the ability to prevent disease and death within the framework of a specific protocol with volunteers who meet certain inclusion criteria (compared to another unvaccinated group)”, efficiency is measured “in the street, with its diversity, ”recalled Hozbor. With the little time that the Covid and the vaccines have between us, this second data is only starting to be felt.

Balanced

Although the Gamaleya Institute’s trial with the lite version of Sputnik doesn’t end until December, Jorge Quarleri said that “from a public health perspective, single dose strategy is extremely valuable“.

But he also clarified: “They did not say it officially but, based on statements by people from Gamaleya to the international media, the immunity that would be achieved with the single dose would have a duration 4 to 5 months“.

On the scale risk-benefit, means that “primary immunity is of great value in terms of the course and severity of infection, and in minimizing cases requiring intensive care. Now alright the transmission of the virus will not be radically interruptedQuarleri warns.

“My message to myself is to always be careful about the results we expect. We think they are good, but we don’t know anything about this ongoing clinical study and that would end in December, in addition to the fact that we will surely know the intermediate analysis in the middle ”.

For now, optimistic Hozbor offers to watchAdd the half-full glass of the pods: “Each year, the world administers some 3.5 billion vaccines. Right now, by taking teens out, we should be vaccinating 4 billion people against Covid. Achieving the full regimen would involve producing 8,000 million doses. We have to size the situation ”.

AS

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