Advantages and distinctive features of both vaccines: Russian Sputnik V and the Chinese Vero Cell

Physicians note a decrease in patients with COVID-19 in Belarus. 1,279 patients have been registered now. Mass vaccination with the Russian product Sputnik V continues in the country.  And r a batch of 100,000 doses of the Chinese vaccine manufactured by Sinopharm has arrived in the country. Now the drug is tested for quality in Minsk medical institutions. Soon, the Belarusians will be able to try this drug. 

"Sputnik V" is the world's first registered vaccine based on the well-studied human adenovirus vector platform. The Russian vaccine has already been registered in over 30 countries. Phase III clinical trials are being conducted in our country as well. Now doctors and teachers are being vaccinated with this medicine. As for the Chinese vaccine produced by Sinopharm pharmaceutical corporation, it is still undergoing quality control in Minsk medical institutions. But it has already been tested in 10 countries, including the Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Peru, Serbia, and Argentina. Both vaccines are designed to protect against coronavirus infection, but they were created using completely different technological platforms.

The Chinese vaccine is based on inactivated or killed coronavirus. Sinopharm developed it jointly with the Beijing Institute of Biological Products. Virus inactivation is one of the oldest and most reliable methods of creating vaccines. Vaccines against poliomyelitis or influenza, for example, have been developed using this technology. 

Andrei Goncharov, Director of the Institute of Biophysics and Cell Engineering of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus: "Initially a virus is isolated from some biomaterial, that is, an isolate is obtained, which is further characterized by all biological properties, and we get a strain. Then it is actually grown on cell cultures, a human cell culture is grown in special bioreactors, the virus is introduced there. The virus infects the cell culture, and goes out. And, as a matter of fact, this virus is purified, inactivated, and we get a vaccine. Sputnik V is one of only three vaccines in the world with over 90% efficacy. The Chinese vaccine is also approved not only for emergency use, but also for widespread use. In tests, the drug showed 79.34% efficacy. At the same time, experts say that the figures are not worth relying too much on. The conditions and protocols of the clinical trials might have been different in both cases."

Elena Samoilovich, head of the laboratory of the Russian Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology: "According to the WHO, all vaccines for vaccination against coronavirus infection, if their effectiveness is 70% or higher, belong to highly effective vaccines. Recently, there was a publication in a journal, an internationally recognized scientific publication, which lists 5 of the most effective vaccines against coronavirus infection, which are approved by international regulatory authorities and WHO, including both vaccines by a Russian and a Chinese manufacturer." 

Storage of Sputnik V vaccine requires special conditions under minus 18 C. As for the Chinese vaccine, the temperature ranges from plus two to plus eight degrees, making it easy to ship the drug around the world. In general, there are few contraindications for use, just as with conventional vaccination. And for those who have recovered from an illness, it is mandatory to maintain a six-month period after recovery. Both vaccines involve an injection of two doses. The second component is injected after 21 days to strengthen the immunity."  

Elena Samoilovich, head of the laboratory of the Russian Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology: "The vaccination allows for individual protection, that is, to protect everyone from the coronavirus infection. But even more important is that by vaccinating ourselves, we thus gradually create a population immunity of society. The more people are vaccinated, the higher the population immunity will be."