There is a health risk, but this is not the main thing: what does an immunologist think about vaccinations against COVID-19

Edition "Pravmir" published an interview on the topic of vaccination with Boris Reisis, a professor at the School of Medicine at New York University (NYU), director of the Center for Applied Immunology and co-director of the Colton Center for the Study of Autoimmune Diseases.

In an interview, he told why it is necessary to vaccinate, whether it is possible to be vaccinated for autoimmune diseases, is the Sputnik vaccine as good as it is said in Russia, and whether mRNA vaccines developed in the USA are dangerous.

Is there a risk from the vaccine

To this question, the professor replied that it is necessary to compare the risks of vaccination and disease. In this case, the question "is there a risk from the vaccine" is not very correct.

The risk of contracting COVID-19 and dying from the disease is much greater than the risk of being vaccinated.

“The risk from a vaccine is so small that it can be neglected, it is actually less than the risk of being hit by a car. A vaccine is the safest way to prepare our body for the possible serious effects of the disease, ”says Boris Reizis, adding that everything, even the usual actions that we carry out on a daily basis, are at risk.

“But we can already say that the main vaccines that are now used have negligible side effects and, most importantly, are incomparable with the dangers associated with the disease itself,” the doctor emphasized.

He also says that there are enough people around the world who do not want to be vaccinated, including in the United States. Often, the attitude towards vaccination is associated with geography - the farther from large cities, the more conservative residents, that is, opponents of vaccines.

With vaccines against COVID-19, the wave of resistance flared up especially sharply: not only were they made quite quickly (usually the development of medicines takes years), but American drugs (Moderna and Pfizer) are also built on the basis of mRNA. mRNA is a messenger RNA technology that was not previously used in vaccines and now drugs developed in this way are injected for people for the first time. However, the technology itself is not new, it has been researched and developed for decades.

“I would like to emphasize in every possible way that the platforms for these vaccines have been developed for decades, just a little for other purposes,” says the professor.

The technology of mRNA vaccines has been developed for a long time for cancer vaccines and for gene therapy, then it was repurposed for COVID. And this decision was successful. mRNA vaccines, according to Boris Reizis, can be changed quickly enough, because "all these vaccines are based on recombinant nucleic acids, and changing a few bases to change the protein is not a problem at all."

AstraZeneca and Sputnik are based on adenoviral vectors that were previously used to deliver proteins for blood clotting into the body. Then, on this basis, a vaccine against the Ebola virus was created, which, fortunately, was not used, since there was no epidemic. And now the technology has been used to develop a vaccine against COVID-19.

“I have to compliment the Sputnik vaccine because, unlike AstraZeneca, it uses a rather elegant design of two different vectors for two different vaccinations. Most likely, Sputnik is more efficient for this very reason. An excellent solution, but it was not invented specifically for this case, but came straight from gene therapy, ”says the professor.

"I do not interfere with my immunity"

When asked about opponents of vaccination who believe a common myth and "do not want to interfere with the immune system, so as not to spoil it," the professor answered quite sharply.

“Frankly, this is pure nonsense. First, they were a little late with their fears. Vaccines are sheer nonsense compared to the effect on our immunity that the microbes that live on our skin, mucous membranes, lungs and especially intestines have. They interfere with our immunity every second. Secondly, the vast majority of us are vaccinated against a fairly large number of terrible diseases. I hope no one yearns for diphtheria and tetanus. Thirdly, it is not suggested that everyone should be injected with steroids or swallow anthrax in the hope that you will not die. It's about "interfering" with your immunity in the safest and most rational way, protecting yourself and those around you from serious consequences, "said the professor.

Also in an interview, Boris Reizis urges you to trust specialists who understand something better than we do.

Autoimmune diseases and vaccinations

Autoimmune diseases can be an indication to refuse vaccination.

“Systemic lupus erythematosus, Sjogren's syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases are common. They are not diagnosed or misdiagnosed, so in reality their frequency is even higher than according to official data, and among women, alas, it is even more serious than the average in the population. For treatment, therapy is usually used, which destroys the B-lymphocytes that produce antibodies, "- said the professor.

According to him, there are active debates among scientists about whether it is possible for people with such diagnoses to be vaccinated against COVID.

“In America, it was about mRNA grafts like Pfizer and Moderna, but in England, where, mainly, the vector AstraZeneca, the same question was raised. The consensus is this: everything is very individual and should be decided by a doctor with careful monitoring, but you can and should be vaccinated, because it is much more dangerous to get sick. Autoimmune diseases are chronic, people with these diagnoses are known in advance. They get sick with a certain frequency, after which you can look at the outcomes, "the scientist summed up.