"The likelihood of transmission is greatly reduced": Gamaleya center may study the issue of eliminating masks after vaccination with "Sputnik V"

The Gamaleya Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology may study the issue of eliminating the need to wear masks for those vaccinated against the coronavirus with the Sputnik V drug.

As the head of the laboratory of mechanisms of population variability of pathogenic microorganisms of the Gamaleya center, Vladimir Gushchin, said, there is reason to say that the likelihood of transmission of COVID-19 after vaccination is "greatly reduced."

At the same time, he added that more detailed epidemiological studies are needed to determine how much this probability is reduced.

"But right now, I think this is not a question of giving up masks, but this is an indication that this issue needs to be studied more carefully," TASS quoted Gushchin as saying.

According to Gushchin, those who received both components of the Sputnik V vaccine, even if infected with COVID-19, do not pose a danger to others.

“Those who received both doses of the vaccine in case of illness have a 14 times lower risk of transferring diseases in moderate and severe forms.

At the same time, in this case, the vaccinated do not emit a viable virus, which means they are not a source of danger to others, ”it follows from Gushchin's presentation.

He also spoke about the rate of vaccination in Russia.

According to the Center.

Gamaleya, to date, about 10% of the residents of the Russian Federation have completed the full course of vaccination against coronavirus.

At the same time, according to the head of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation Mikhail Murashko, to date, almost 17 million people have been vaccinated with the first component of vaccines against COVID-19 in the country.

Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for the Russian president, said that advocacy on the benefits of vaccination would continue.

Answering the question of journalists about whether it is possible to expect that more than 60% of Russians will be vaccinated against the coronavirus by the fall, Peskov said that there is hope for this outcome.

“The main thing is that the state has actually taken the necessary steps to create the necessary infrastructure, vaccine stocks, a distribution system, and the organization of vaccination centers in the volume that is necessary.

And now it's only a matter of citizens' initiative, ”Peskov emphasized.

He stressed that "it is citizens who need to realize that in order to protect their health, to protect their lives and in order to live a full life in the context of the ongoing pandemic, they need to be vaccinated."

Over the past day, 9039 new cases of coronavirus have been detected in Russia.

During the same time, 9759 people have fully recovered.

402 people died from complications caused by COVID-19 and related diseases.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 5,035,207 cases of COVID-19 have been detected in the country.

4,651,849 people recovered.

120,002 deaths were recorded.

263,356 cases remain active.

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According to Rospotrebnadzor, over the entire period, over 136.8 million laboratory tests for COVID-19 were carried out, including 338 thousand in the last day.

517,061 people remain under medical supervision.

In Moscow, 3105 new cases of COVID-19 infection were detected per day.

After undergoing treatment for coronavirus infection, another 2,886 patients were discharged.

At the same time, 971 people were hospitalized, 58 patients died.

Experts highly appreciated the actions of the city authorities in the context of the pandemic.

In particular, Moscow ranked second among 19 world megacities in terms of the effectiveness of the fight against the coronavirus pandemic in the period from January - February 2020 to May 2021, according to the results of a study by the Higher School of Economics (HSE).

Singapore took the first place in the ranking, Shanghai, Seoul and Beijing also entered the top 5.

To assess the effectiveness of economic policy in a pandemic, the authors of the work calculated a composite index consisting of three subsections that describe the situation in the health sector, the recovery of economic activity and the social sphere, and the stability of the budget system.

According to experts, Moscow has pursued a balanced policy and achieved high performance in all components.

“The main factor was the rapid recovery of economic activity in the city, including due to large-scale support measures from the city budget.

Another important point noted by the experts is that the city, due to the accumulated balances, was able to greatly increase spending on health care and social support of citizens and does not plan to reduce these costs in 2021, ”the study says.

It is noted that the actions of the Moscow authorities made it possible to achieve relatively little damage to the economy while maintaining control over the course of the epidemic.