Epidemiologist Radmilo Petrovic: Russian vaccine is not ideal, but benefit outweighs risk

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The Russian vaccine "Sputnik-5" is not ideal, but it will improve over time, says epidemiologist Radmilo Petrovic, and adds that at this point in time, the most important thing is to save lives.

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In a statement for Tanjug he stressed that every new vaccine doesn't provide a great deal of protection at first, but that they gradually get perfected.

"It is not an ideal vaccine, there will be some side effects. However, they will be 100 to 1,000 times less common than the side effects caused in humans by a natural virus, therefore the benefit outweighs the risk," stressed Petrovic.

The Russian vaccine has been received with distrust, especially by Western countries. They doubt its quality and safety, because it has been tested on a small number of people.

Petrovic says that the situation was similar with the flu vaccine in the beginning, but that it got perfected over time.

"The flu vaccine does not prevent an epidemic, it does not prevent the spread of the virus, but it prevents severe forms of the disease and reduces the mortality rate. That is why I congratulate the Russians," he emphasized.

He noted that in this case, the most important thing is to save human lives and that one shouldn't be "splitting hairs" with the Russians, adding that the vaccine will be effective in a certain percentage.

"Are we supposed to wait for an ideal vaccine, which will not produce any unwanted reactions, and during that time people will be dying from coronavirus. I think that this vaccine should be used for the at-risk population in order to have as few severe forms of the disease as possible and to prevent deaths," he said.

The at-risk population, Petrovic noted, are healthcare workers, the elderly, and the chronically ill patients.

(Telegraf.rs/Tanjug)