The Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation approved the drug "Sputnik V" for the vaccination of people over 60 years old, said the head of the department Mikhail Murashko.

He noted that in accordance with the decision of the ministry, the vaccine can be used by people aged 18 and over.

According to Murashko, "the expertise has confirmed the safety and effectiveness" of Sputnik V for people over 60 years old.

“Thus, citizens over 60 years old can now also be vaccinated against a new coronavirus infection,” the minister said on the air of the Russia 24 TV channel.

Recall that on December 15, large-scale vaccination against coronavirus infection began in all regions of Russia.

Features of the vaccine

The head of the Gamaleya Center, Alexander Gintsburg, warned that an insufficient amount of protein consumed by a person can affect the production of antibodies to coronavirus, including after vaccination.

"The amount of protein food (the amount of protein) greatly affects the production of antibodies, because the process of producing antibodies is energetically expensive, so the supply of the substrate, that is, meat, but not fat, but high-quality meat, has a great impact," the TASS scientist quotes.

According to him, vaccinated people should "focus on the consumption of quality protein."

Along with this, Gunzburg canceled the influence of alcohol consumption and stress on the formation of antibodies and immunity.

“Various hormones are linked by a rigid chain to the immune system.

Therefore, many hormones that cause stressful conditions inhibit the production of certain hormones of the immune system, therefore all stressful conditions suppress antibodies very well, ”he said.

In addition, during another speech, Gunzburg spoke about the absence of allergic reactions to Sputnik V.

According to him, the Ministry of Health and Roszdravnadzor are closely monitoring all the "side effects".

"Severe allergic reactions when using the Sputnik V vaccine and during clinical trials of the first, second, third phases, and during civilian trafficking ... nothing like this was observed," he said on the air of the Russia 24 TV channel.

New incidence data

Over the past day, 29,258 new cases of coronavirus were detected in Russia.

The day before, 29,018 cases were reported.

In total, 3,021,964 cases of coronavirus in 85 regions have been recorded in the country today.

Since the beginning of observations in the Russian Federation, 2,426,439 people have recovered from coronavirus, including 28,185 in the last day.

54,226 people died from complications that developed against the background of coronavirus infection and concomitant diseases.

Over the past day, 567 deaths were recorded.

According to Rospotrebnadzor, since the beginning of the pandemic, more than 88.6 million laboratory tests for a new type of coronavirus infection have been performed in the Russian Federation, including 511 thousand in the last day.

654,275 people remain under medical supervision.

New strain of coronavirus

The Center for Mathematical Modeling of Infectious Diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has published a study on a new strain of coronavirus previously discovered in the UK.

Let us recall that this circumstance became the reason for the suspension of flights of a number of states with the United Kingdom.

The strain has already been found in eight European countries.

According to British experts, the new strain is 56% more infectious than the original.

In this regard, the authors of the report are of the opinion that in 2021 the number of hospitalizations in deaths from COVID-19 will increase even if a number of restrictions imposed in the country in mid-December remain.

One of these solutions was to prohibit people from meeting with everyone who does not live with them in the same household.

At the same time, scientists say that they have not found clear evidence of a greater severity of the disease caused by the new strain of coronavirus.

Earlier, the head of Rospotrebnadzor, Anna Popova, expressed confidence that the Russian vaccines against coronavirus infection are effective against new COVID-19 mutations detected in the world.

According to her, after studying the design of vaccines available in Russia, it became clear that the effectiveness of these drugs is unconditional.

In addition, Popova noted that the test systems produced by Rospotrebnadzor “see the coronavirus in any of its variants,” noting that there are no test systems yet that are able to differentiate the virus by the type of mutation.