MOSCOW, June 26. /TASS/. The example of influenza shows that a vaccine against the novel coronavirus will not be a panacea for that virus, President of the Dmitry Rogachev National Medical Research Center of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Immunology and Chief Freelance Pediatric Hematologist and Oncologist of the Russian Ministry of Health Alexander Rumyantsev told TASS.
"We are all waiting for the vaccine, which is being developed by about 20 teams in our country. However, as a physician, I don’t expect these vaccinations to be a 100% panacea. Now there is massive flu vaccination. At the same time, the number of deaths from it across the globe is about 600,000 people per year. That is, the situation is still the same, but we have got used to it. I believe we will survive this infection as well," he said.
Rumyantsev noted that work on developing vaccines had given a boost to new research, in particular, in the field of artificial viruses, natural viruses and the evolution of certain pathogens. "Almost every year we have new infections due to the changing habitat, so the [situation] will be sure to recur," he said.
To date, 613,994 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 375,164 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 8,605 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.