Slovenian Scientist Dr Sašo Dolenc responded to an article written by a sociologist and publicist Dr Tomaž Mastnak in Dnevnik, in which Mastnak expressed the belief that very little is known about the nature, origin and immediate consequences, as well as the long-term consequences of the covid-19 disease. The same, he said, applies to diagnosing, treating, and preventing the disease. According to him, there is no reliable information on how effective the vaccines are against the new variants of the virus. Since he even hinted that the vaccines supposedly cause the virus to mutate, Dolenc said that the article is complete nonsense.
“My, oh my! No wonder that, in a country where intellectuals with the highest academic titles think like this, the people do not want to get vaccinated. Truly incredible,” scientist Dr Sašo Dolenc, who has already presented his views on the problem of the anti-vaccination mania in Slovenia in the past, responded to an article by the sociologist Tomaž Mastnak. Just before Slovenia gained its independence, Mastnak insisted in his articles for the Mladina magazine that he did not want an independent Slovenia, saying that nobody would even recognise us as a sovereign state.
The vaccine manufacturer must prove that not only is the vaccine effective and safe but also that it has good enough control over the quality of production
In the first part of his response, Dolenc emphasises that the vaccines which are available in the European Union have all been approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). “The EU has high standards for checking the effectiveness, safety and quality of all medicines and vaccines. Any manufacturer can submit documentation for verification. This is not about monopolies,” he emphasises, explaining that the EMA has been testing the Russian Sputnik vaccine since spring. “Once (if) it is approved, it will be available here as well.” According to Dolenc, upon registration, the manufacturer must prove not only that the vaccine works and is safe but also that it has good enough control over the quality of production (the GMP standards, etc.).
As Dolenc continues to explain, this means that very accurate and complete documentation on development and production is prepared, which cannot have any missing information, and nothing in it can be unclear. “Such strict rules and detailed inspections are based on past experience and are the basis for the safety of medicines.” He says that the Russian vaccine manufacturers have not been able to demonstrate that the initial vaccine building block (the main cell bank) complies with the EU’s disease prevention regulations – the forms on side effects discovered during the trials are missing – as it is not clear how they monitored the placebo group.
Anyone who opposes the profits of pharmaceutical corporations should get vaccinated with AstraZeneca
“The AstraZeneca vaccine is sold at a non-profit price. It was developed at Oxford University, and their condition was that the vaccine manufacturer must not make any profit with it. Therefore, it is available at a significantly lower price than the other vaccines. If anyone hates the profits of the pharmaceutical companies, they should get vaccinated with AstraZeneca,” the scientist advises, adding that because the vaccine is approved by EMA, it is also available in Slovenia. The vaccine is also produced in large quantities in India and is thus available at a low price for the surrounding countries. “In fact, the technology of the AstraZeneca vaccine is more or less the same as the technology of the Russian Sputnik V,” Dolenc points out.
Dolenc also says that he does not understand why anyone here would want to be vaccinated with the Russian or Chinese vaccine, which has not been approved by EMA yet, instead of choosing a vaccine that has proven to be effective, safe and of good quality, as these are all available in Slovenia for free to anyone who is at least 12 years old. “If a person has so little trust for the EU system (but trusts the Russians and the Chinese), they must have significantly more compelling arguments than the alleged conspiracy of the ruling political-business-media complex in the West.”
Mastnak also claimed that there was no reliable information on how effective the vaccines are against the new variants of the virus, but Dolenc rejects this claim as well. He also said that Mastnak’s allegations about the vaccines causing the virus to mutate are stupid because they really are nonsense: “And another addition for all those who want to take an ideological stand against the vaccines:
– the AstraZeneca vaccine was developed in an academic environment (Oxford) and is sold non-profit at its production price.
– Pfizer/BioNTech was developed in a company without state or public subsidies. The Moderna vaccine was developed in American state institutes and received large subsidies from the American state for its production.
– Many vaccine developers have not (yet succeeded) in making a vaccine that would be effective enough to be put on the market,” he adds.
