In a bid to increase the COVID-19 vaccine basket size, the Indian authorities are examining Sputnik Light, the vaccine that was recently authorized for use by Russia. Recently, the Russians came up with a single dose version of the two dose Russian vaccine Sputnik V. It is named as Sputnik Light and its first dose is regarded identical as the two doses of Sputnik V.
NITI Aayog member V K Paul has said the Sputnik Light vaccine shall be examined including its data and immunogenicity. He also said that if the claims regarding the vaccine are proved to be true, then it will speed up the process of vaccinating the Indian population by two times.
Sputnik Light is made in the Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute and has already been authorized in Russia. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has claimed that it is 79.4% effective against COVID-19 as per the data recorded after 28 days of the injection being administered as a part of the mass vaccination programme in Russia. It costs less than $10 and might be helpful in increasing the number of people with partial immunity.
There haven’t been any adverse effects of Sputnik Light. RDIF CEO Kirill Dmitriev said that Sputnik V will continue to be the core vaccine while Sputnik Light will be a less costly version of it. He has also said that discussions were made with the regulators of several countries regarding its registration. He claims that Sputnik Light works well with all mutations of the virus and can be used as a booster shot with other vaccines and that trials are in progress with AstraZeneca.
Russian President, Vladimir Putin, as reported by the news agency of TASS, has claimed that all the Russian vaccines against COVID-19 are extremely reliable as the Russian medications are solely based on technologies and platforms that have been in use since immemorial times.
Last month, the Russian scientists had already said that the Sputnik V is quite an effective vaccine against the virus. It has been assessed that it proved to be 97.6 percent effective against the deadly corona virus.
Sputnik V is a two-dose vaccine and the uniqueness of this vaccine is that the antigens in the two doses are very much different from one another.
Although Sputnik Light is very encouraging and promising, the request shall be processed depending upon the scientific data and information. India has passing through a difficult phase where lakhs of people are getting infected each day, and hundreds of people are dying. In this phase, it is of utmost necessity that the process of vaccination speeds up to break the deadly chain of infection caused by the Corona Virus. Hence, Sputnik Light is being examined in India.
Last month, India’s drug regulator has given the permission for restricted emergency use of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V for protection against the Corona Virus but with certain conditions.
