Director General of the State Scientific Center for Virology and Biotechnology "Vector" Rinat Maksyutov was fired from his post. According to Interfax, citing Rospotrebnadzor, Maksyutov is accused of violating the anti-corruption law and failing to take measures to prevent conflicts of interest.
The Vector Center itself will continue to work, the report says.
Maksyutov has headed the Novosibirsk Vector Center since 2003 and led the development of the EpiVacCorona vaccine, one of three coronavirus vaccines made in Russia.
The EpiVacCorona vaccine was at the center of a scandal at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, and its developers were accused of falsifying data. Among the Russian coronavirus vaccines, EpiVacCorona showed the worst results of application. As St. Petersburg scientists found out in January 2022, the efficiency of Sputnik V was 58%, Sputnik Light – 50%, KoviVac – 38%, and EpiVacKorona – minus 40%.
The negative efficacy of EpiVacCorona suggests that the risk of disease among those vaccinated with this drug was higher than among those who were not vaccinated. This was explained by the fact that among the unvaccinated residents of St. Petersburg who participated in the study, there were many who had recovered from COVID-19.
Developers from the Vector Center (EpiVakKorona) and the Institute. Chumakov (KoviVak) pointed out errors in the study and did not recognize the conclusions of their colleagues.