Skodric on the third dose of Covid vaccine: "There is no recommendation which one to get"

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The Crisis HQ recommends that the third dose of any vaccine against Covid be given to chronic patients and those whose immunity is already endangered by certain diseases or surgeries.

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Acting director of the RFZO, Sanja Radojevic Skodric, told RTS that relevant studies show that the Sinopharm vaccine has shown very high efficacy against the Delta strain of the virus. So far, there has been no case of combining classic vaccines such as Sinopharm's and innovative ones like Astra Zeneca, Pfizer or Moderna.

Sanja Radojevic Skodric notes that protection against a more severe form of Covid provided by vaccines in risk groups may drop six months after receiving the second dose.

"It is recommended that the third dose be used to vaccinate risk groups of patients - immunodeficient, those who received transplants, those who are on hemodialysis, suffering from malignant diseases," explains the acting director of the state health insurance fund, RFZO.

As she points out, relevant bodies such as the WHO, the European Medicines Agency, the Chinese Medicines Agency, the US Centers for Disease Control have not yet given a recommendation for the third dose or which vaccine manufacturer the third dose should come from.

She adds that there is no recommendation as to which vaccine to receive and that vaccines from any manufacturer are available for that.

Photo: Tanjug/AP

Wishing to refute the claim about inefficiency of the Chinese Sinopharm, Radojevic Skodric cites a study from Argentina, which showed that this vaccine was 84% efficient in preventing mortality in people over 60 years of age. She also recalled that the vaccine showed efficiency of as much as 84 percent in preventing the disease in China, and 86 percent in the United Arab Emirates.

In order to make it easier for citizens of Serbia to make a decision on the third dose, Radojevic Skodric stressed that the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine was made by the traditional method, unlike the innovative ones, which include Astra Zeneca, Pfizer and Moderna.

"Sinopharm contains the entire virus, while the others contain only its RNA, i.e., information for protein synthesis. When there is a mutation, the creation of new strains, there is a change in the s-protein, which is the reason for the great efficiency of the Sinopharm vaccine against the Delta strain that dominates in the fourth wave of the pandemic," says Radojevic Skodric.

On the efficacy of Sinopharm vaccine against Delta strain

Referring to the results of a study by a renowned medical journal from Sri Lanka published on July 19, Radojevic Skoric points out that the Sinopharm vaccine has shown an efficiency of 95 percent when working with the Delta strain, or as much as 99 percent in the 20 to 39 age group, and 93.3 percent with those older than 60.

As a reason for those who have already received Sinopharm to receive the same vaccine as the third dose, she cites the analogy with the polio vaccine, which is also of the classic type and is received in three doses.

She points out that there has already been a combination of RNA vaccines, Astra Zeneca and Pfizer in Britain, but that there has been no mixing of different types of vaccines.

Speaking about monitoring the levels of antibodies in the body, Radojevic Skodric stresses that there are two types of immunity - humoral and cellular. The first is expressed through the level of antibodies, and the second through the so-called clinical efficacy - whether the vaccinated person who subsequently became infected had a milder or more severe clinical picture.

Although the epidemic situation is still stable, the acting director of the RFZO appeals on citizens, especially young people, to get vaccinated. Only 18 percent of young people have been vaccinated. The elderly population and the group in which the vaccine is contraindicated should be protected, concluded Radojevic Skodric.

(Telegraf.rs)