FINALLY SOME GOOD NEWS!

The Russians did it.  They have an effective safe vaccine! 

September 5 2020.  

The Jerusalem Post has reported today on the race for a Covid 19 vaccine.  They review data from first and second phase vaccine tests reported in “ The Lancet” which revealed that the new Russian vaccine for Covid 19,  “Sputnik V”, showed that 100% of the participants developed antibodies and the protocol had no serious side effects.  The Russian team indicated that nurses , doctors and teaches will be given the vaccine first, after its expected release and during its mass production in Russia sometime in late October.  That is very good news for us all. . 

The result of the first two trials of the Russian effort  were published in the “Lancet” a prestigious peer reviewed journal.  The two trials were conducted in Moscow in June and involved 76 subjects who where given a two-shot jab.. The results showed 100% of the participants had developed antibodies to coronavirus 19 and  there were no serious side effects.  These first two trials are to be followed by large scale tests to establish long term safety and effectiveness of the vaccine. The Lancet article also noted that the Russian virologists revealed that the vaccine produced antibodies in the subject’s blood that were more than 1.5 times greater than the antibody levels in patients who had actually contracted and survived the disease.  They also noted that the vaccine appeared to have generated a “T cell” response—as well.  This is significant since recent studies have shown that “T cells” are a significant second level of protection against disease found  in normal healthy adults who survive the infection.  

As this author understands the effort by the Russians it is that they did not use the older method of dangerous and slow live virus production—in which the actual virus is grown in animal tissues or in vitro and then either weakened and then injected, or killed and macerated so as to render the virus no longer infectious.  The fragments of the virus (often elements of the outer shell of the virus) are then purified and sterilized and this is injected into the patient to stimulate the body to produce antigens against the “foreign invader” During an infection the body is thus armed against the live virus which it recognizes from the fragments of its outer shell.   

A more modern approach—and that used by the Russian team —was to chemically generate a copy of the gene for the “spike glycoprotein” which is that portion of the virus which attaches to the cell membrane of the host and permits entry into the cell where the virus then takes over the cell and recreates copies of itself.   This gene was recombined with and attached  to a “carrier” virus that permits the gene to enter the cells of the human recipient.  The  common cold virus (an Adenovirus)  was used to act as a carrier to gain entry into cells.  The gene enters the cell on the adenovirus and within  the subject cell it  is picked up by the cell’s ribosomes —a cellular organelle which functions to generate proteins from amino acids in the cell (like antibodies) needed in the cell or elsewhere. The introduced gene —likely a component of a messenger RNA  activates the ribosomes to produce the anti-spike protein antibody which then acts to prevent the covid 19 virus from passing through the host cell membrane.   Thus, the existing cell structures and processes of normal cells are enlisted to drive  the cell to generate the antibodies it needs to ward off a Covid 19 infection.  

The vaccine was named “Sputnik V” after the first manned satellite launched by the USSR.   The phase 3 trials were launched last week in which 40,000 individuals will be tested and  initial results of these trials are expected next month or in November of this year.   One element still not tested was the “control” aspect of the approval process  in which one group of people are given the vaccine and another are given a placebo (no treatment injection).  Typically neither  the scientists nor the test recipients   know who has received the placebo and who  the vaccine. This is referred to as a “double bind test”. These will be conducted in the upcoming phase three  of approval 

The good news is the the Russians will have a vaccine well before the end of this year. Other nations—the USA, China and the UK and others—the Jerusalem Post proudly and accurately notes that though Israel is not involved in the race many Jews  are— working for the USA and UK efforts—all racing to produce an effective vaccine..Thus it is likely that these other companies will very soon enter their trial phases and begin actual mass production and dissemination of these vaccines.  This is very good news indeed.  Kudos to the Russians and to all those who work with such ingenuity, scholarship and effort for all of mankind. 

The Lancet,  September 4 2020.  Safety and immunogenicity of an rAd26 and rAd5 heterologous prime boost Covid 19 vaccine......from Russia.
D Logunov. et al