Gennady Onishchenko in the studio of Radio “Komsomolskaya Pravda”.
Photo: Ivan MAKEEV
On Wednesday, August 2, the famous scientist Gennady Onishchenko, Doctor of Medical Sciences, former head of State Sanitation of the Russian Federation, visited our editorial office.
Of course, we discussed, first of all, homework and school problems, because, as the academician himself said, “The academic year is just around the corner!”
But of course we also talk about medicine. Here are some excerpts from his interview for Radio Komsomolskaya Pravda.
Library for… Virus Strains
… – Gennady Grigorievich, we know that this year, on July 18, on the Day of the Medical Worker, scientists of the Rospotrebnadzor Central Research Institute of Epidemiology (TsNIIE), led by their colleague, Academician Vasily Gennadievich Akimkin, they became laureates of the “Vocation” award. This is the main medical award for the best doctors in Russia. And the wizards of TsNIIE received it for the development and creation of the Russian Electronic Library – a database of various strains of viruses. What will this unusual library bring to our medicine and health? What benefit will it bring?
– Regarding the “Vocation”… We also discussed this topic, which received such a high award, this year at a meeting of the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences.
Molecular genetic monitoring… Well, covid is not just a problem, but as I said, this type of pandemic gives a person the opportunity to evolve.
Thus, taking the example of the covid (although we also deal with measles at the level of genetic monitoring), we have taken a big step forward.
It was the Central Research Institute of Epidemiology, headed by Academician Akimkin and previously headed by Valentin Ivanovich Pokrovsky, who was also the president of our academy, for the first time on such a scale, on the scale of a huge country, assumed genetic monitoring of all the circulating strains.
– And what did he give – in general – to the country?
– This gave the country the fact that we have brought epidemiology to the modern level, and therefore forecasting. Look, on this platform today (and they report automatically) there are 1800 organizations in 85 regions of Russia.
During this time, 142 million research results were transferred.
– Where is it transferred?
– In this database, which is in the TsNIIE.
There is such a software product, which was also developed by our scientists, and now it allows us to concentrate all the necessary information in this database …
Contains elements of artificial intelligence, may suggest…
– … what will happen if we proceed from the data that was loaded into it.
– Yes. From 2020 to 2021, 135 thousand strains were uploaded there. And this is what allows us to make fast and accurate predictions.
There are enough vaccines in the country
– Gennady Grigoryevich, the last summer month has already begun, we will not have time to look back – autumn. Do I need to get vaccinated against covid this year? Is there a vaccine in sufficient quantity and which one to choose?
– I see that the degree of irony in your comments about the covid is increasing.
– Yes, without irony!
– So, you are already beginning to recover from the fear of a three-year pandemic.
And yes, we are monitoring everything.
Here are my latest data. During the day, 348 cases of covid were registered.
– For the past? Around the country?
– Yes, throughout the country. So, in the first place is the Saratov region – 22, Pskov – 5 cases, and so on.
That is, we continue to monitor. And this suggests that the covid has not been removed from the agenda.
Of course, in the fall, the children will gather, they will go to school, and now we have 17 million children who will sit at their desks. They will also bring (virus. . – Auth.) – and there will be a jump.
But, as long as there is no data at the level of genetic monitoring, it is not easy: is there or is there not corona, but which one exactly, how does it differ from the omicron that it was? We are already in a position to make such a prediction.
So, so far there is no information that a sharp increase in the disease awaits us.
But that doesn’t mean we don’t do anything. We have diagnoses, we monitor. I mean the doctors.
– What about the vaccine?
– Today we are working on updating the strain. Because the tension that existed in 2019 and that we later put into our Sputnik is already…
– Outdated?
– Can you say that.
Now the same Gamaleya Institute is changing the strain. After all, no one canceled vaccinations.
And, if there is a need for this … – that is, an increase in the incidence begins – we will again vaccinate people,
Therefore, as they say, gunpowder stays dry.
But besides the covid, we have other things. We will definitely get a flu shot.
Gennady Onishchenko: “Covid has not been removed from the agenda.”
Photo: Ivan MAKEEV
Will measles take us by surprise?
– And the measles?
– Measles (in the sense, vaccination against this disease. – AG) has never been canceled in our country.
As in 1967, we began to vaccinate children … So in our country now (this is provided for in our national calendar) each child receives the first measles vaccination a year, receives the second application before school, this is at the age of 6. 7 years old.
Why do adults get sick? Here in the Lipetsk region, in Khakassia…
– Previously, when there was no vaccine, only children got sick, adults – never. Either they died or they survived.
Here is a young man, for example, who had measles in 1967, he was already 17 years old. That is, at school age he already received immunity for life.
And now we come to the conclusion that a revaccination is needed approximately every 10 years. We call this phenomenon in our jargon just like that – measles has ripened.
– And how to determine who needs vaccination and who does not?
– (turning to Gamow, laughing) I’ll recommend getting a measles shot every year for people like you who can’t hear.
– But, seriously? You probably need to go to the therapist and he will advise you, right?
– Good. Today we can individualize measles.
There are tests, we have them at the Gabrichevsky Institute, which just need to be implemented.
Let’s say they did, they looked: Gamow has a high measles antibody titer, he doesn’t need to be vaccinated.
But for someone, even if he was vaccinated two years ago, the immune system did not work, for various reasons, and he will need to be revaccinated.
This individualization of the vaccination schedule using the example of measles is very appropriate and relevant now. Because this year we have already registered almost 2,000 cases of measles.
Will we have enough medicine?
– Gennady Grigoryevich, many foreign pharmaceutical companies have limited their activities in Russia, have we been successful enough in import substitution? Are there interruptions with some medications, with supplies?
– There is not a single country that is completely self-sufficient. Because the drug palette is too big.
What has our government done?
He approved a mandatory list of those vital medicines that we must produce, and here the task is that both the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and the private company provide us with the medicines in full.
* * *
– You saved us today, Gennady Grigorievich, with your advice and recommendations!
– All – cheers!
