Scientists from Gamaleya Epidemiology and Microbiology Research Center have created a new test to see if an individual is vaccinated or not even if he possesses a vaccination certificate, according to the Izvestiya edition citing Alexander Gintsburg, head of the center.
The test is aimed at measuring the level of antibodies to a membrane protein of adenovirus in the blood of an individual. This can be reliable proof if that individual is vaccinated for real or not.
As Mr. Gintsburg explained, adenovirus Ad26 is part of the Sputnik V vaccine; it plays a vital role in the vaccine while transporting some tiny pieces of SARS-CV-2 with coded information about the structure of protein spike of the virus to body cells.
«The first dose of Sputnik V is based on Ad26. It can be rarely discovered in the human body. Therefore, if we see antibodies to Ad26 in one’s body it means that this individual has been vaccinated. In the case of hospitalization of an individual who claims he’s been vaccinated but we couldn’t see Ad26 antibodies we know for almost 100% that this person possesses a fake certificate,» he said.
According to Gintsburg, the Gamaleya Research Center has been working on this test for more than one month. For that analysis, scientists have used the real blood of patients from COVID-19 hospitals. So far, they have tested about 60 patients, according to Izvestiya.
Kazakhstan struggles with the same problem of fake vaccination certificates. Some people buy these fake documents to get access to work because the authorities have limited those who haven’t been vaccinated from access to their workplaces to avoid spreading the virus.
