Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Gamaleya Institute stated they are confident their Covid-19 vaccines – Sputnik V and the single-dose Sputnik Light – can beat the recently-discovered Omicron variant. The necessary studies to ascertain the same have also been started, RDIF said in a statement on Tuesday.
“The Gamaleya Institute believes both Sputnik V and Sputnik Light will neutralize the latest Omicron variant and has started the necessary studies,” the statement read.
Nonetheless, RDIF further stated, the Gamaleya Institute, based on existing protocols of immediately developing vaccine versions for variants of concern, has also begun developing the new version of Sputnik vaccine adapted to Omicron.
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“In an unlikely case such modification is needed, the new Sputnik Omicron version can be ready for mass-scale production in 45 days. Several hundred million Sputnik Omicron boosters can be provided to international markets already by Feb 20, 2022 with over 3 billion doses available in 2022,” RDIF said.
The Russian Sputnik V and Sputnik Light vaccines have proven to be highly effective against all variants of SARC-Cov-2 known to date, RDIF said, quoting articles published in vaccines medical journal and international real-world data from numerous countries.
As per a recent study in Hungary, Sputnik V vaccine had the 98 per cent efficacy in preventing Covid-19-related mortality and 85.7 per cent efficacy against coronavirus infection among five vaccines, including Sputnik V, Moderna, Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Sinopharm used in the country between January-June 2021. Based on this data, the share of deaths from Covid-19 in the unvaccinated population was 130 times higher than among those vaccinated with Sputnik V in the same period, RDIF cited the report as saying.
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Meanwhile, data from San Marino showed that Sputnik V is 80 per cent effective against coronavirus infection from six to eight months after administering the second dose, which is much higher than published efficacy of mRNA vaccines of less than 30 per cent after 6 months, RDIF said.
The Sputnik vaccine’s efficacy is based on the heterogeneous boosting approach using two different vectors for two shots, pioneered by the Gamaleya Institute, and a proven adenoviral vector platform, which triggers a broader immune response as compared to mRNA vaccines, the Russian agency further added.
Sputnik V and Sputnik Light have been approved for use in India, along with Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin.
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