Highlights

- the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic was based on falsified assumptions about vaccines and the suppression of existing knowledge about immunity to coronavirus infections;

- global measures against COVID-19, contrary to expectations, were often implemented without accounting for known immunological risks, necessitating a revision of strategies for future pandemics;

- russian immunology of dangerous infections, judging by publications from its leading figures, has failed to learn any lessons from the mistakes made during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 Relevance. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed systemic flaws in infectious disease epidemiology and immunology – issues that were either previously unknown or, more troublingly, deliberately suppressed for non-scientific reasons.

 Purpose of the study is to identify unresolved and suppressed scientific issues left by the COVID-19 pandemic.

 Study base sources. Review and problem-focused articles in peer-reviewed English-language scientific journals, accessible via the Internet.

 Method. Analytical. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were followed. Over 3,000 scientific publications on the features of the epidemic process, disease immunology, and vaccination complications were identified. Of these, 114 review articles were selected and analyzed.

 Discussion. Coronavirus infections were well-studied prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, during global efforts to combat it, previously accumulated knowledge was disregarded. The investigation into the mechanisms of the epidemic was reduced to political blame-shifting. The origin of the virus remains unknown. Instead of genuine disease immunology, physicians were presented with a surrogate model that falsified the role of antibodies. Immunological phenomena characteristic of coronavirus infections–such as antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE), pathogenic priming, and antigenic imprinting–were deliberately ignored. The toxic and prion-like properties of the spike protein, used as the antigenic component in vector-based mRNA vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna, etc.) and adenoviral vaccines (Oxford–AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, etc.), were concealed from recipients. Under current regulatory frameworks, these products are classified as somatic gene therapy drugs, not vaccines. No scientifically grounded public health measures were developed in advance to counter the pandemic.

 Conclusions. The pandemic was not only a public health catastrophe but also–more dangerously–a catastrophic collapse of the scientific knowledge applied. This knowledge failed to align with the realities of COVID-19 and will remain inadequate for future pandemics due to an obsessive focus on vaccination, which was justified through falsification, fraud, and violations of laws and constitutional principles. A critical reassessment of the mistakes made during the COVID-19 pandemic is essential, along with the development of a new scientific foundation to address future pandemics and biocrimes.

Highlights

 In 1941–1945 experts of Research Chemical Institute (RCI RAPW) and Central Military Chemical Test Site (CMCTS) created brand-new samples of chemical protection devices (respirators, protective suits, chemical-warfare decontamination agents) and particular weapons (smoke- producing mixtures, flame throwers, etc.).

 The inventions of RCI RAPW and CMCTS ensured the Soviet troops protection and became the main reason why Germany abandoned the idea of using chemical weapons at the Eastern front line.

Relevance. The development of chemical protection devices and particular weapons was crucial during the Great Patriotic War. We should never forget people and institutions that contributed greatly to that.

 The purpose of the study is to provide a retrospective view of the contributions of RCI RAPW and CMCTS experts to the creation and development of a wide range of chemical protection devices, smoke-producing, flame-throwing and incendiary agents in pre-war period and during the Great Patriotic War (GPW).

 Study base sources. The study was based on the archive documents of the 33 Central Scientific Research Test Institute of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, memoirs of the involved persons and scientific publications on military chemistry history.

 Research methods. The study employed an integrated approach combining analysis of military-historical literature and archival data.

 Results. The authors of this article have found out that in pre-war period and during the Great Patriotic War the experts of RCI RAPW and CMCTS developed:

- brand-new layouts of filter and self-contained respirators with enhanced protection;

- brand-new skin protection agents and decontamination methods;

- efficient smoke-producing and flame-throwing incendiary mixtures.

 Conclusions. The conducted analysis has led the authors to the following conclusions:

- Dedication of RCI RAPW and CMCTS experts in pre-war period and during the Great Patriotic War led to that RAPW had the most efficient samples of smoke-producing and flame-throwing incendiary mixtures as well as enhanced protection devices, which contributed greatly to the Victory over German Nazi invaders;

- The inventions of RCI RAPW and CMCTS ensured the Soviet troops protection and became the main reason why Germany abandoned the idea of using chemical weapons at the Eastern front line.

Highlights

 Branch of the 48 Central Research Institute (Kirov) of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation was one of the leading research institutions in the Soviet Union that dealt with dangerous and hazardоus contagious diseases and tried to protect the Red Army of Workers and Peasants troops from the biological weapons used by the enemy during the Great Patriotic War.

 Relevance. Scientific publications and papers that are related to epidemic prosperity state at the front line and rear areas the Great Patriotic War neglect the importance of military microbiologists. That is unfair because they promptly developed product manufacturing procedures that permitted to create vaccines against dangerous and particularly dangerous infections. They also produced first antibiotics in the Soviet Union.

 The purpose of the study is to inform about the contribution of the Soviet military microbiologists to the Victory in the Great Patriotic War.

 Study base sources. The authors have analyzed the documents of the Central State Archive of the Kirov region, disclosed archive records of the 48 Central Research Institute (Kirov) of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, as well as publications, available in Russian e-library database.

 Methods. The authors have resorted to common scientific generalization methods and chronological and comparative methods during the study. They also have analyzed archive documents and have provided an evaluation of the described events from a historical point of view.

 Results. The authors of this article have detected a sequence of events that led to relocation of a military scientific institution during the Great Patriotic War (the Sanitary engineering institution of the Red Army of Workers and Peasants) was relocated from Gorodomlya Island to Kirov. The authors have studied the functioning of this institution in this period. The experts of this institution developed unique product manufacturing procedures for bacteriophages and antibiotics (penicillin and streptomycin); created second to none dry live vaccines (against tularemia, plague and brucellosis). All inventions were immediately introduced to troops and saved thousands of Soviet soldiers. When the war ended, all these inventions were handed to the Ministry of Health of the Soviet Union.

 Conclusions. The Soviet military microbiologists made a great breakthrough in terms of manufacturing procedures of bacterial and fungi cultivation, developed an unique equipment that permitted to use raw materials available in the USSR. These components were crucial for the development of key antibiotics of that time penicillin and streptomycin. The contribution of the Soviet military microbiologists to the development of vaccines against dangerous pathogenes and potential biological weapon agents is priceless. The director of the Main Military Medical Department of the Red Army colonel general of the Medical Corps E.I. Smirnov was the leader who contributed greatly to the development of military microbiology.

Highlights

 During the Great Patriotic War (1941–1945) the Military Academy of Chemical Defence (nowadays the Nuclear Biological Chemical Defence Military Academy Named after Marshal of the Soviet Union S.K. Timoshenko (Kostroma)) 1428 competent chemical corps officers. Academy inventions gave the opportunity to create 17 new samples of chemical protection means and to write 17 manuals on chemical corps tactics, which had been actually applied in combat operations.

 Relevance. It is crucial to analyze the contribution of the Academy to the Victory, if we want to preserve historical memory and prevent history distortion. The academy successfully combines learning process, research and practical application of its inventions in combat conditions.

 Purpose of the study is to systematize and analyze the contribution of Military Academy of Chemical Defence to the military staff training, chemical protective means development and their practical application during the Great Patriotic War.

 Study base sources. The authors of this paper have analyzed the records of the central archive of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, orders and guidelines of people's commissariat of defence of the Soviet Union for the period of 1941–1945, Chemical Corps reports and dispatches from the battlefield, academy graduates recollections and  photographic documents of the war period.

 Method. Descriptive method.

 Results. The authors of this paper have found out that 93% of people who graduated from the academy were sent to the front line and 47% out of this number have been awarded with state rewards. It have been confirmed that 23 academy inventions were introduced into military practice in 1942–1944. The Soviet Union troops were quite prepared for the chemical war that is why the Wehrmacht was afraid to use poison gas against them.

Conclusions. In the war period the academy ensured regular training of chemical troops experts, created powerful chemical protection system for the Red Army of Workers and Peasants of the Soviet Union, helped to frustrate the plans of the enemy in terms of chemical warfare agents use and saved many thousands of Soviet soldiers.