Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) CEO Kirill Dmitriev said, in his opinion piece for Sputnik, that the secret behind the high speed of Russia's COVID-19 vaccine creation was the country's expertise in vaccine research, also praising the unique two-vector approach of the Gamaleya Microbiology Research Center
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th August, 2020) Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) CEO Kirill Dmitriev said, in his opinion piece for Sputnik, that the secret behind the high speed of Russia's COVID-19 vaccine creation was the country's expertise in vaccine research, also praising the unique two-vector approach of the Gamaleya Microbiology Research Center.
Earlier in the day, the Russian Health Ministry registered the first coronavirus vaccine in the world. The vaccine, named Sputnik V, was developed jointly by the Gamaleya Research Institute and the Russian Defense Ministry.
While many Western media outlets and politicians question the high speed of Russia's COVID-19 vaccine creation, expressing concerns about its efficacy and authenticity, the secret behind this success is the country's expertise in vaccine research, the RDIF chief noted.
"Since the 1980s, the Gamaleya Center has led the effort to develop a technological platform using adenoviruses, found in human adenoids and normally transmitting the common cold, as 'vectors' or vehicles, which can induce a genetic material from another virus into a cell ... The technological platform of adenovirus-based vectors makes it easier and faster to create new vaccines through modifying the initial carrier vector with genetic material from new emerging viruses," Dmitriev explained.
The head of the RDIF pointed to Gamaleya Microbiology Research Center's unique two-vector approach.
"Other countries follow in our footsteps developing adenoviral vector-based vaccines. Oxford University is using an adenovirus from a monkey, which has neither been used in an approved vaccine before unlike human adenoviruses. U.S. company Johnson & Johnson is using adenovirus Ad26 and China's CanSino - adenovirus Ad5, the same vectors the Gamaleya Center is using, but they are yet to master the two-vector approach," Dmitriev explained.
RDIF believes that adenoviral vector-based vaccines will be the winners "in the global vaccine race to fight coronavirus," but even in this category the Gamaleya vaccine "has the edge," the official concluded.
