SIMFEROPOL (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th November, 2020) Crimean scientists have started to test their locally-developed vaccine against coronavirus on rabbits and mice, and will announce its efficacy or otherwise toward the end of the year, virologist Vladimir Oberemok, who heads the laboratory of cell technologies and DNA drugs at V.I. Vernadsky Crimean Federal University, said on Friday.
In mid-October, the university scientists said that they had created a new COVID-19 vaccine that can be inhaled through the nose. The vaccine consists of one lasso-shaped oligonucleotide (a thiophosphate DNA fragment) which contains an activator of innate immunity � CpG sites � and an antigen in which a small fragment of the SARS-CoV-2 genome will be "sown in" so that the body detects it and produces antibodies.
"There is a series of experiments on rabbits and, in parallel ... on mice. Today, the main goal is to see if specific antibodies are produced after injecting the vaccine, which we call today 'lasso.' Usually it takes a month or two. We have had three weeks of experiments and we are still observing. There are encouraging results, but it is still premature to talk about it publicly today. We will tell about its efficacy toward the end of the year," Oberemok said at the Crimean press-center of Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency.
Oberemok said that the vaccine, when ready, can be taken both intronasally and in the form of injection.
