Widespread use of domestic covid-19 vaccine planned to start in Belarus in 2024

The widespread use of the domestic COVID-19 vaccine is planned to begin in Belarus in 2024, Health Minister Dmitry Pinevich told reporters before a meeting with youth activists in the health sector at the Republican Palace of Culture of Trade Unions.

“We will receive a pilot batch, which will go to the pre-clinic, a very strict clinic. We plan to register the vaccine at the end of this year, Dmitry Pinevich said. - Wide application will start in 2024. But whether it will be widely used remains to be seen.”

The minister is deeply convinced that the pandemic will not return in its previous form. However, it is important that the developed domestic vaccine is a platform for creating other inactivated vaccines designed to prevent airborne viral diseases.

“This production will allow us to have a much wider range than the actual vaccine you are asking about,” Dmitry Pinevich said.

In this regard, he noted that the composition of the vaccine, for example, against influenza is reviewed for each epidemiological season, taking into account the forecasts for the circulation of certain strains. Now H1N1 is circulating, but "we don't feel it because the influenza vaccine includes this strain," the minister said. Those who have been vaccinated already have developed immunity against this infection.

As for the coronavirus vaccine, there have been talks of including variants such as omicron, centaur, kraken, etc. in its composition. “But the Wuhan strain as a base works quite well. Vaccination is not a matter of eliminating cases of the disease in general, vaccination is primarily a matter of whether a person can tolerate this infection in a much milder form,” the minister noted.

Thanks to the created platform, if necessary, changes can be made to the composition of the coronavirus vaccine, and this will not cause difficulties, the minister added.

Dmitry Pinevich noted that in the team that is working on the vaccine, there is a fairly large proportion of young scientists. "The fusion of experience and youth, enthusiasm, innovation is very important in all areas," he stressed.

The minister also spoke about the current epidemiological situation in the country. In particular, the coronavirus “could be removed as a problem that is important to us, but we are monitoring it,” he said. In general, coronavirus, influenza, respiratory viruses circulate, and they all have somewhat similar clinical symptoms. Children get sick, people of an older age situation, which is a normal seasonal situation, he noted.