The prototype of the Bulgarian vaccine against COVID-19 will be ready by the end of the year at the Institute of Microbiology. The immunology specialist Dr. Ilian Manoilov from BAS commented on when the testing will end and when the vaccine will be ready for use:
“At the moment we are about 30% of the way to our final destination. It is a prototype vaccine that has been tested on laboratory animals. To make sure that this prototype is not harmful, it must first be tested on mice. Tests on humans are extremely important, but those on mice cannot be eliminated.”
The prototype will be tested on 1200 mice. The animals are ordered from special kennels and that is why it is necessary for the Ethics Commission to allow such experiments in our country. According to Dr. Manoilov, the work with the animals should start actively in April-May.
The requests of the USA and Russia for several ready-made vaccines are political, the expert commented. He said there was information that these vaccines could work, but what Russia did not rule on was ethical, and prototypes of vaccines that had already been developed for other viruses were being tested in the United States.
“The fact that a number of countries buy green vaccines without them even being produced shows that money is increasingly interfering in our purely scientific work. This is not right.”
“Our 100% will know what we will get by the end of 2021.”
There is no ethical justification for mass vaccination of people against COVID-19 in our country – nor is the mortality rate too high, and its prevalence is too low, says the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences scientist.
