‘No evidence’ Aussie’s Covax-19 vaccine works

Nikolai Petrovsky’s locally developed Covax-19 produced no scientific evidence of efficacy, despite the professor claiming it can combat Covid-19.

Nikolai Petrovsky in his lab. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

A vaccine developed by Australian medical researcher Nikolai Petrovsky produced no scientific evidence of efficacy in its phase one clinical trial, ­according to an investigating committee, despite the professor claiming it can successfully combat Covid-19.

Professor Petrovsky, who claims one million doses of Covax-19 have been distributed in Iran under the name Spikogen, wrote to phase one trial participants in February last year to say “antibody responses to the vaccine were low” and instructed them to get vaccinated with a jab approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

In a second letter, the Central Adelaide Local Health Network’s research ethics committee wrote to the 40 participants in November 2021, saying it was “not aware of any scientific evidence of efficacy of the Covax-19 vaccine to meet Australian TGA standards”.

The committee said its advice “was based on the small apparent immunological effect of the Covax vaccine and subsequent low likelihood of its effectiveness”.

Professor Petrovsky has raised more than $1m in public donations to develop the vaccine.

The South Australian scientist, who administered himself with Covax-19 during its phase one trial, has refused to be injected with a vaccine approved by the TGA, saying it was potentially dangerous.

However, in February 2021, Professor Petrovsky wrote to trial participants, saying: “When an approved Covid-19 vaccine(s) becomes available in Australia and is offered to you, we would recommend you make your decision just as you would have, had you not participated in this study.”

Last November, he said he faced dismissal from Flinders Medical Centre – where he is ­director of endocrinology – after SA Health sent him a “threatening” letter ordering him to get vaccinated with a TGA-approved jab.

Professor Nikolai Petrovsky. Picture: Supplied

As of November 1, the public health order required workers at all South Australian public and private hospitals to provide proof of at least one approved vaccine to continue working. In response to the mandate, Professor Petrovsky said he was seeking an exemption.

“There is no clinical data on what would happen if someone who is fully vaccinated subjected themselves to a whole further round just to satisfy an arbitrary mandate,” he told The Australian at the time. “It would not be safe.”

After several participants contacted the CALHN, the research ethics committee’s acting chair, David Evans, instructed participants to ignore Professor Petrovsky’s claims in the media and get a TGA-approved vaccine.

“The Central Adelaide Local Health Network and human ­research ethics committee has been contacted by participants in the Covax-19 study … These participants are concerned that comments that professor Nikolai Petrovsky reported in the media did not correspond with the ­advice given in the letter participants received,” Dr Evans wrote last November.

“These comments … could be construed that it would be unsafe to receive a TGA-approved vaccine … The committee is not aware of any scientific evidence of efficacy of the Covax-19 vaccine to meet Australian TGA standards.” The Australian contacted members of the committee, but they did not wish to comment.

Professor Petrovsky continues to attract criticism in scientific quarters for comments regarding the safety and efficacy of mRNA vaccines, describing them as ­experimental as well as “gene therapy vaccines” – a claim ­rejected by the TGA.

Professor Petrovsky has been a staunch opponent of vaccine mandates, referencing the Nuremberg Code in several interviews and speeches.

The absence of any publicly available data to substantiate the efficacy of his vaccine has raised concerns among experts, who have questioned the legitimacy of Covax-19’s Iranian trials.

Royal Adelaide Hospital director of clinical pharmacology Sepehr Shakib said Professor Petrovsky approached him in ­December 2020 saying his vaccine had produced “no neutralising antibodies”. “He came to me and told me that the protein was sticking to the vaccine’s vial and just wasn’t working,” Professor Shakib said. “Nikolai has made repeated claims about the success of his vaccine, but we have seen no clinical data or evidence of its ­effectiveness.”

Professor Petrovsky was contacted multiple times for comment, but did not respond.

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