Sputnik, Bassetti: “HIV risk? Perplexed but it is a vaccine with many doubts”

“I am not surprised by the news coming from South Africa. There had already been some reports that even the adenovirus contained in Sputnik could reactivate in immunosuppressed patients, or that by injecting this type of vaccine then one could have a resumption of activation of the Adenovirus. Now there is this warning about HIV but it must be tried: it escapes me how Sputnik can promote the risk of developing HIV unless you think that there are potentially antibodies in the Russian vaccine but it seems strange to me. the initial data of the vaccine seemed good but today the epidemiological situation in Russia, with records of cases and deaths, casts a veil of doubt on its effectiveness “. So at Adnkronos Salute Matteo Bassetti, director of the Infectious Diseases Clinic of the San Martino Polyclinic in Genoa, comments on the decision of the South African drug agency to reject the anti-Covid Sputnik vaccine because it would increase the risk in males of contracting HIV. According to Bassetti, the real problem with the Sputnik vaccine “is that it is not used where it is produced”. In Russia “less than 25% of the population is vaccinated, and this means that it is not appreciated, yet they were the first to produce an anti-Covid vaccine”, concludes the infectious disease specialist.