Launch of large-scale vaccination with the third Russian vaccine "KoviVac", developed by the Federal Scientific Center for Research and Development of Immunobiological Preparations named after V. I. MP Chumakov RAS, it is planned for the spring of this year.
Professor, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Head of the Department of Genetics of the Southern Federal University Tatiana Shkurat told RG about the differences between the new vaccine and the two previous ones.
“This is a whole virion vaccine,” said the professor. - Experts have grown the real SARS CoV-2 virus, and then multiplied in special media. Then this grown real coronavirus was inactivated - that is, its hereditary molecule, RNA, was destroyed by special solutions, while all the proteins remained alive. As a result, the vaccine is a complete set of antigens that interact with lymphocytes to induce antibodies and form immunity.
According to the expert, the main difference between this vaccine is that it is not made from individual coronavirus antigens, but from a whole inactivated virus. Therefore, it gives a complete set of all antigens of this virus, and this gives a complete set of all antibodies.
The Russian vaccines Sputnik-V and Epivakkorona have only two antigen fragments. These are fragments of the Spike protein (spike), which is located on the surface of the virus. In the KoviVak vaccine, the Spike protein is presented in its entirety, along with a range of other surface proteins.
"Virologists believe that more antibodies will be formed on it and, accordingly, more" strong "immunity will be developed.