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Recently, the issue of the government acquiring a coronavirus vaccine from the company of American-Armenian businessman Nubar Afeyan has been actively discussed on social networks and in the media.
The discussions intensified after the Minister of Health Arsen Torosyan announced that after the approval of the vaccine Armenia can get the first batches. “Moderna’s vaccine is one of the most likely candidates to be approved as the final vaccine,” Torosyan said.
Speculations concerning the “Moderna” vaccine can often be found on social networks. Marina Khachatryan, President of the “Healthy Society” NGO, claims that the vaccine is lethal. Moreover, she has started a petition against mandatory vaccinations. There has been a proposal to create a nationwide front against vaccinations, and so on.
One of the Facebook users quoted the statements of Robert Kennedy Jr., nephew of former US President John F. Kennedy, about the dangerous effects of “Moderna” vaccines.
Taking into account the fact that the results of the second phase of vaccine trials created by the company have already been published, and there is substantial information about its effect, the Fact Investigation Platform decided to refer to the speculations on this topic, and provide some details about the vaccine.
The American “Moderna” pharmaceutical company, co-founded by Nubar Afeyan, was established in 2010. The company specializes in the creation and development of medications and vaccines.
The hypothesis that the vaccine is “lethal” is groundless
The hypothesis that the “Moderna” vaccine can cause death or that it has 20% “serious” injury rate” is a manipulation. Robert Kennedy Jr. has spoken about that 20% injury rate. In particular, he has noted, “A vaccine with those reaction rates could cause grave injuries in 1.5 billion humans if administered to every person on earth.”
The reality is that 3 of the volunteers in the high dose cohort (250 mcg) in the first phase trial suffered complications. No complications occurred in case of the low dose administration. According to a report published on the website of the “Moderna” company, to which Kennedy refers, medical intervention may be needed to overcome these complications, but they will not be life-threatening.
Some of the people who participated in the clinical trials of the vaccine told about their experience. In the first days, one of them had pain in his arm.
The report states that small doses have been shown to be effective in removing coronavirus from the organisms of infected animals.
The results of the second phase of “Moderna” trials were promising
Recently, the American company published the results of the second phase of trials. They show that the vaccine has caused immunity in the tested people. By the way, the vaccine with the high dose of 250 mcg was not tested in the second phase. Vaccine production can begin after the successful completion of Phase 3. People who have been vaccinated against coronavirus will be tested for immunity one year after vaccination.
It should be noted that as is the case with any vaccine, it is not possible to accurately estimate the mortality rate due to side effects. One of the reasons is that the virus affects the immune system, and its recovery can have different complications and consequences for people of different ages and health conditions.
Gayane Sahakyan, Deputy Director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Armenia, said that if the vaccine is purchased, it will not be mandatory for everyone. The focus will be on the risk groups.
Robert Kennedy Jr. opposes all kinds of vaccines
Robert Kennedy, whose statements are very popular in Armenia, is known in the United States as a leader of the anti-vaccination movement, the main disseminator of misinformation. For this purpose, the latter uses several organizations created by him. One of them is the Center for Child Health, which mainly publishes Kennedy’s provocative thoughts about vaccines and, in general, about the coronavirus.
It should be noted that according to the World Health Organization, there are currently more than 140 types of coronavirus vaccine in different stages of testing. Thirteen of them are already being tested on humans.
Thus, we can state that the statements about the failure of the vaccine created by the “Moderna” company or its serious injury rates are manipulative, falsified, and have no scientific grounds.
Ani Avetisyan
