Deputy Head of the Center. Gamalei Logunov: It is irresponsible to call the omicron strain a lung

The Gamaleya Center, which created the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, evaluated a new omicron strain discovered in South Africa.

Denis Logunov, deputy head of the Gamaleya Center, questioned the adequacy of statements about the “lightness” of the omicron, TASS reports. The scientist explained that people with immunity get sick easily, but it is not yet known how others, in particular, the elderly, will tolerate it.

“In fact, it is premature to draw conclusions on the samples that are now available. But already by what we see together with Rospotrebnadzor, by those sera from patients who fly from South Africa, I can responsibly declare that already immune people are arriving and they already have an omicron, ”said Logunov.

He recalled that there are many people in Russia who have not yet had the coronavirus. “And to say that the omicron strain in their relation will flow easily is absolutely irresponsible,” he stressed.

Earlier, Logunov reported that a monoclonal antibody-based drug for covid created in Russia could be registered within three to five months.