In the near future, Kraken will occupy 70% – 80% of the covid “market” in the US and Europe, a little later Russia will probably join these countries.
Photo: Julia PYKHALOVA
The Kraken variant of the coronavirus has just appeared in Russia, but it has already managed to make a lot of noise. “Kraken”, the most contagious strain of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus today, is actively spreading in the US and Europe, but will it be dominant in our country? Many experts have said in the spirit yes, and everyone will get sick of it.
Rospotrebnadzor director Anna Popova admitted that the Kraken’s immune protection may not be enough. But then the question arises, do you take vaccinations? Social networks began to spread information that no. Nikolai Kryuchkov, immunologist, candidate of medical sciences, general director of a contract research company, answered the sharp questions of KP.RU.
WILL THE KRAKEN CONQUER RUSSIA AND WHEN?
With the arrival of the Kraken, the general situation in the evolution of the coronavirus and in COVID-19 itself has not changed significantly, the expert believes. The virus “scores points” in terms of infectivity and ability to evade antibodies. “Omicron” appeared more than a year ago, and now its descendant “Kraken” has every chance to become the leader in distribution, surpassing both “Cerberus” and “Centaur”. But the severity of the course of the disease does not change, there are no more deaths from covid.
– I think that in the near future “Kraken” will take 70% – 80% of the covid “market” in the US and Europe. This is likely to happen in Russia, but with a delay, that is, in two months, says Nikolai Kryuchkov.
However, this is not the only scenario for the development of events. There is no guarantee that right now in China, which is geographically close to Russia and has recently lifted its anti-inflammatory restrictions, a promising new mutant is not being born that could quickly reach our country. Some experts are of the opinion that a new variant of the virus may also come from Thailand or India, where Russians like to travel on vacation. There’s also the unfortunate possibility that some evil variant of SARS-CoV-2 will come out of nowhere and randomly gain the ability to cause more serious disease. So we cannot do without vaccination against COVID-19.
St. Petersburg. Medical worker at St. Luke’s Clinical Hospital, where they provide care for patients with COVID-19 coronavirus infection.
Photo: Julia PYKHALOVA
DO VACCINES PROTECT AGAINST KRAKEN AND HOW?
Vaccines not adapted to new coronavirus variants, including Sputnik V and Sputnik Light, need not be expected to fully protect against Kraken infection, our expert believes. Still, there is more than enough sense in the vaccine.
“Vaccines continue to protect against covid disease of any severity at a level of 50 to 60 percent,” says Nikolai Kryuchkov. – And if you look at the level of protection against severe covid disease, when hospitalization or even resuscitation is required for treatment, then the effect is still high, at a level of 60 to 80 percent.
A new study has shown that revaccination significantly affects the level of neutralizing antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
– The essence of the study is that the strengthening of the immune response, the reinforcement, really occurs in conditions when revaccination with Sputnik was carried out after full vaccination with the same drug. Also, the lower the antibody level in a person after primary vaccination, the more effective the booster is. For certain groups of people, the level of protective antibodies increases 5 times, for others – 1.5-2 times, the expert notes. – So, the vaccine and revaccination is a very important element of protection against the disease, the most targeted – the coronavirus.
HOW IS IT POSSIBLE TO CRUSH THE CORONAVIRUS FINALLY?
The final victory over the coronavirus, which gives rise to all the new variants, is impossible without the development of vaccines, their various types and forms of administration, as well as the adaptation of the vaccination schedule itself.
1. The Gamaleya Center has already started work on the development of a vaccine against new strains of COVID-19, including Kraken (XBВ.1.5). So that the vaccine can reach us faster, the government recently adopted a decree. It facilitates the commercialization of vaccines adapted to the latest versions of the coronavirus. These can be bivalent and trivalent vaccines that will cover several of the most contagious variants of coronavirus at once.
2. An individual selection of revaccination schemes is being developed, because some people need to do it after 4 months, while in others the protective effect of the vaccines lasts longer, up to 8 months. Here a lot depends on age, on whether a person has other diseases, including chronic ones.
3. In the future, we will learn to apply mixed vaccination schedules, both in terms of the forms of administration of the vaccines (muscular injections and nasal sprays), and in their different types.
It would be optimal to start, for example, with drug vaccination with an adenoviral vector, that is, Sputnik V. Then move on to revaccination with drugs on other platforms – mRNA vaccines (the Russian Gamaleya Center is already doing such work) or vaccines such as the recombinant Betuvax-Kov-2, when the human body and its immune system receive the most complete information on the composition. of the virus, about its characteristics, which helps to prepare for a future encounter with the infection.
New combination vaccines will also appear, against influenza and covid at the same time, and they are also being developed in Russia. This may be convenient, since it will allow you to go to vaccination once a year, and immediately for both ailments.
