Brazil says Russian Sputnik V vaccine supply carried Live Cold Virus
Tainted batches of Russia’s Sputnik V Covid vaccine sent to Brazil carried a live version of a common cold-causing virus, the South American country’s health regulator reported in a presentation explaining its decision to ban the drug’s import.
Top virologist Angela Rasmussen told AFP the finding “raises questions about the integrity of the manufacturing processes” and could be a safety issue for people with weaker immune systems, if the problem was found to be widespread.
The issue centres around an “adenovirus vector” a virus that normally causes mild respiratory illness but in vaccines is genetically modified so that it cannot replicate, and edited to carry the DNA instructions for human cells to develop the spike protein of the coronavirus.
Another unknown is whether the manufacturing problem that led to the adenovirus vector being able to replicate also knocks out the DNA code for the spike protein rendering the shot ineffective as a coronavirus vaccine.
