MOSCOW, June 30. /TASS/. Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko has said that the exchange of information on the efficacy of vaccines and the exchange of coronavirus strains for their study and rapid response should be a top-priority issue in cooperation between the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) countries.
"With the emergence of new coronavirus strains, it is of great importance to monitor their spread and study their properties, primarily in relation to the efficacy of vaccines and immunity in response to the ‘basic’ version. I suggest making this a priority in cooperation between the SCO countries, given our geographic conjunction. At the same time, cooperation should include not only the exchange of information, including information on the effectiveness of the drug therapy that is used, but also, which is very important for a quick response and taking preventive measures, the exchange of COVID-19 strains," he said at a meeting of the SCO countries’ health ministers.
Another important area of cooperation is the determination of the necessary parameters for revaccination of both vaccinated individuals and those, who had COVID-19. According to the Russian health minister, this can only be done through long-term studies, taking into account the circulation of new variants. "A crucial role here should be played by the scale of research and statistics collection, and that too can be an area of our productive cooperation," he noted.
Fight against COVID-19 in Russia
The minister recalled that Russia had allocated 279,000 hospital beds for COVID-19 patients at the peak of the pandemic, a five-fold increase compared to the original number. "In May 2021, only 100,000 infectious diseases beds were used. However, the third wave forced us to increase their number, and, to date, 175,000 hospital beds have been set up. At the same time, 100,000 beds were reconverted for planned medical treatment," Murashko said.
"However, the turning point in the development of the epidemiological situation in the world was the transition from an ‘uncontrollable’ infection to a ‘controllable’ one. "That was possible thanks to the development of specific means of preventing the coronavirus, of course, I am talking about vaccines. Russia began mass vaccination of the population on January 18, 2021. Vaccination is carried out in all 85 constituent entities of Russia. Mobile vaccination centers were organized to immunize the population," Murashko concluded.