India may approve Russia’s coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V for emergency use

Indian expert panel may approve Russia’s coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V which is considered as one of the most effective vaccines, soon for emergency use. It is also considered as one of the most affordable vaccines in the world with a price of less than $10 per shot.

The vaccine has been developed by Gamaleya Research Institute and the Russian defense ministry.Russia was the first country to give regulatory approval to a COVID-19 vaccine in August after less than two months of human testing.

“India is a key partner in terms of production of vaccine and we expect that there’ll be a restricted emergency use order for the Sputnik V vaccine…this month or next. After that we will be able to start our vaccine delivery to India,” Kirill Dmitriev, Russian Direct Investment Fund chief said.
The results published in The Lancer on Tuesday had shown that Russian experimental coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V is 91.6% effective against the Covid-19 infection, LiveMint reported.

“The data published by The Lancet shows that Sputnik V is one of only three vaccines in the world with the efficacy of over 90 per cent but outperforms them in terms of safety, ease of transportation due to storage requirements of 2 to 8 degrees, and a more affordable price. Sputnik V is a vaccine for all mankind,” Dmitriev said.

The vaccine, ‘Sputnik V’,  named after the world’s first satellite launched by the Soviet Union during the cold war era, has successfully completed the phase III trial in which 20,000 participants inoculated the jabs.

“The Russian vaccine is based on a well-researched human adenoviral vector platform which has proven to be safe, with no long-term adverse effects in more than 250 clinical trials over decades,” said Dmitriev.

The  use of two different human adenoviral vectors as a delivery mechanism of the outer coat genetic material of coronavirus to human body  is the uniqueness of this Russian vaccine, researchers said. “This approach provides for creation of a stronger and long-term immunity as compared to vaccines, using one and the same component for both doses,” they added.

“The level of virus neutralizing antibodies of volunteers vaccinated with Sputnik V is 1.3-1.5 times higher than the level of antibodies of patients who recovered from COVID-19,” according to The Lancet.

In India Sputnik V vaccine is being manufactured by Dr Reddy’s Lab, Hyderabad, in collaboration with Russia’s Gamaleya National Centre. Dr Reddy’s Lab had last month received approval from the Drugs Control General of India (DCGI) to conduct phase III clinical trial for the Sputnik V vaccine for COVID-19.

“Sputnik V is already registered in 16 countries including Russia, Belarus, Serbia, Argentina, Bolivia, Algeria, Palestine, Venezuela, Paraguay, Turkmenistan, Hungary, UAE, Iran, Republic of Guinea, Tunisia and Armenia,” according to The Lancet’s paper.