Russians are outraged following a health official’s warning that other people vaccinated against COVID-19 should drink alcohol in the weeks before and after the shot, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
Anna Popova, head of Russia’s consumer fitness watchdog, told citizens on national radio Tuesday not to take two weeks before their first shot of the Sputnik V vaccine. Those vaccinated would have to remain sober for some more time. Six weeks to ensure a strong immune response, she added. There are 21 days between the two Sputnik launches.
“I think the stress on the body from giving up alcohol, especially in the holiday season, would be worse than the (side effects of) the vaccine and its anticipated benefits,” Elena Kriven, a senior fitness official, told Reuters. Moscow resident.
However, Russian and U. S. vaccine experts said Popova’s recommendation was too extreme. Alexander Gintsburg, the developer of the Russian vaccine, tweeted from the Sputnik V account that “a glass of champagne would possibly not harm anyone. “
In some other tweet, Gintsburg abstains from drinking alcohol 3 days before and after each injection of any vaccine, not just Sputnik.
But William Moss, executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center at Johns Hopkins University, said there is no knowledge for such advice.
“There’s no evidence that drinking a beer or a glass of wine a few days after getting the vaccine is going to interfere with your immune reaction or your coverage after the vaccine,” Moss said. “When that point is expressed so excessively, I think it hurts public health. “
Chronic and excessive consumption — 8 or more drinks per week for women and 15 or more drinks per week for men, according to the CDC — can have a number of harmful effects on the body, Moss said.
Research has shown that alcohol intake affects the gut microbiome and can damage the immune cells that line the intestines, which are the first line of defense against viruses and bacteria.
Another study found that heavy alcohol consumption depletes the ability of some white blood cells to fight infections within hours of intoxication.
Having a strong immune system is especially important in a pandemic, so it might be wise to reduce alcohol consumption for this reason. But there are rarely many, if any, studies that look particularly at interactions between vaccines and alcohol, probably because most vaccines are given to children, Moss said.
Russia approved Sputnik V for public use in August, but has not yet released Phase 3 trial data that would support the vaccine’s effectiveness.
The Sputnik V vaccine is an adenoviral vector vaccine that grafts a part of the coronavirus onto an inactivated edition of a less destructive virus. AstraZeneca and Johnson vaccine applicants
On November 11, two days after Pfizer-BioNTech announced promising effects from its vaccine trials, the Russian government announced in a statement that Sputnik V was 92% effective after the second dose. However, they have not yet published the full, peer-reviewed report. knowledge of phase 1 and 2 trials, creating an air of secrecy around the vaccine.
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