Sputnik Light, the single-dose COVID-19 vaccine has been given the green light by health authorities in Russia. The announcement comes after the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which helped finance the vaccine, said that Sputnik Light “demonstrated 79.4 per cent efficacy” compared to 91.6 per cent for the two-shot Sputnik V.
Researchers came to the conclusion with help of data “taken from 28 days after the injection was administered as part of Russia's mass vaccination program between 5 December 2020 and 15 April 2021”. The Russian vaccine has been approved for use in over 60 countries.
Phase three trials involving 7,000 people with the Sputnik vaccine were conducted in countries like UAE, Ghana and Russia in February, with interim results expected this year. The two-dose Sputnik vaccine has 92 per cent efficacy.
RDIF CEO Kirill Dmitriev told AP, while the two-dose Sputnik V remains the main source of vaccination, Sputnik Light will be “exported to our international partners to help increase the rate of vaccinations in the face of the ongoing fight against the pandemic and new strains of coronavirus.” The vaccine is expected to cost less than $10 dollars.
“It can be used as a booster shot for other vaccines. Cocktail of vaccines like Sputnik V is the way to go and work very well,” he added.
The Sputnik light vaccine is expected to be manufactured in ten different countries including India, China and South Korea.
Sputnik Light may also work as “a booster shot” to other Covid-19 vaccines in protecting against mutations of the virus, subject to additional clinical trials, Dimitriev said.
