No drinking alcohol for 2 months after Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine shot

Dec. 10: Russian officials have advised citizens to avoid drinking alcohol for two months after getting the Sputnik V vaccine shot. “People should stop drinking alcohol at least two weeks before getting the first of two injections. They should continue to abstain for a further 42 days,” Head of the consumer health watchdog, Anna Popova, told the Komsomolskaya Pravda radio station on Tuesday.

Sputnik V, licenced under an accelerated process before the end of clinical trials, has been given to doctors, soldiers, teachers and social workers in the first instance with a large-scale nationwide roll out due to begin this week. There are 21 days between the two Russian vaccine jabs. Smoking is also discouraged as it affects a person’s immune response.

Popova had said that the alcohol would reduce the body’s ability to build up immunity to coronavirus. “It’s a strain on the body. If we want to be healthy and have a strong immune response, don’t drink alcohol,” she said. However, Alexander Gintsburg, the vaccine’s developer, contradicted Popova’s warning. “One glass of champagne won’t hurt anyone, not even your immune system,” said Gintsburg. He said it would be prudent to reduce alcohol use by a reasonable amount while the body built up immunity, but said there was no need to give up completely. He further said, “Such advice was the same for anyone getting vaccinated around the world and not specific to Russia or Sputnik.”

Russia has the world’s fourth-highest Covid-19 caseload of over 2.5 million and the 10th-highest fatality count with 44,000 deaths.