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Covid shot necessary for cancer patients, medical expert insists

Previously, Director General of the National Medical Research Center of Radiology told TASS that specialists from his research center together with scientists from the Gamaleya Center had worked out a general plan and description of the methods of clinical trials of the Sputnik V vaccine on cancer patients

MOSCOW, April 5./TASS/. Patients with oncological diseases need to be vaccinated against coronavirus, but, prior to that they must consult their doctor, Andrei Kaprin, Director General of the National Medical Research Center of Radiology told the ‘Man and Medicine’ national congress on Monday.

"It is not only possible, but it is also needed," the expert said replying to a question on the issue. For this, the patient must stay in touch with the doctor conducting the treatment - the oncologist, he stressed. "We know that all oncological diseases are chronic, so people stay under an oncologist’s observation for years, and of course, people should consult with their doctors," said Kaprin, the chief external oncology specialist at the Russian Ministry of Health.

"In difficult cases, we are ready to hold online consultations," he stressed. He said a plan for the research of Sputnik V for cancer patients was ready. "We are going to eventually launch a project to vaccinate cancer patients within the framework of clinical trials," the medical specialist pledged.

Previously, Kaprin told TASS that specialists from his research center together with scientists from the Gamaleya Center had worked out a general plan and description of the methods of clinical trials of the Sputnik V vaccine on cancer patients. According to him, research will take six to seven months.

Earlier, Alexander Gintsburg who heads the Gamaleya Center, said that the Sputnik V shot had no counterindications for use in patients with oncological diseases, except for those undergoing chemotherapy.

Russia was the first in the world to register an anti-coronavirus vaccine on August 11, 2020. The jab, developed by the Russian Health Ministry’s Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, was dubbed Sputnik V. It is a vector vaccine based on the human adenovirus.

In early February 2020, The Lancet, a world-acclaimed medical journal, published the results of the third phase of Sputnik V’s clinical tests. The jab has shown itself to be among the world’s safest and most efficient. Thus, its efficacy is estimated at 91.6% and 91.8% among volunteers older than 60. Ninety-eight percent of volunteers developed antibodies to the coronavirus.