Argentina’s vaccine deal with Russia lets Sputnik V go ‘light’

Russia’s decision to approve its light vaccine Sputnik against coronavirus was the corollary of a story announced. Since the Gamaleya Institute signed the contract with Argentina for 20 million doses, the fragility second component of Sputnik V. To such an extent that the document has among its clauses references which open the door, as an alternative solution, to to exchange second doses for the first.

The provisional delivery schedule for Sputnik V, fixed by contract, initially provided for the shipment of the two components in equal parts: in December, 300,000 units of component one and 300,000 units of component two; in January, two million each; and in February, 7.7 million per component. Which represents a total of 20 million. Then Argentina chose to increase its demand by 10 million more.

The contractual option which leaves the possibility of changing the second doses for the first It can be useful for Argentina and Russia. For Russians, of course, due to the obstacle to the smooth and massive development of the complement of the first dose. For Argentina, in order to have at least more first doses in the event that – as it really happens – these become promises.

Argentina and Russia, in this sense, have expressed their mutual interests. Two weeks ago, directors of the Gamaleya Institute claimed that the second dose of Sputnik V could be applied to three months of the first, when barely a month before, they had declared that the maximum duration could be two months. It was interpreted as a nod to Argentina in its desire to postpone the second doses.

The only word written and published about how Sputnik should be administered is in its manual, which states that the second dose should be given within 21 and 28 days after the first. One of the unknowns that arises is the duration of the Sputnik light immunity, which is nothing more than the first component del la Sputnik V.

The umbrella opened little by little. In March, a Conicet study circulated indicating that convalescents from Covid to whom the first dose of Sputnik V had been applied they wouldn’t need the second, given that the level of antibodies detected was sufficient or even higher than that reached by the people who received the two doses.

The contract signed with Russia would allow, if necessary, to receive a greater number of first doses, with which the country led by Vladimir Putin could settle its commitments with Argentina without having to comply yes or yes to the delivery of the second component. Anyway, for now, the Argentine government has stated that it will not change the immunization schedule.

This means that the second doses will continue to be expected, which is not the same as being able to ensure that the Gamaleya Institute delivers them. If this possibility did not exist in the near future, Argentina would have no choice but to take advantage of the flexibility of the contract to be able to benefit from at least a greater number of first doses.

When Russia put its vaccine on the market boasted that it was the most effective vaccineprecisely because the first and second doses consist of different components. But this quality ended up working against the production. Biotech companies were not consulted prior to development, and then drawbacks arose.

Basically, the difficulty in making the second component lies – according to Russian experts – in that it is more unstable than the first. “It is as if it took two cars to move forward, but they are completely different: a jeep and a minibus,” said one of these specialists last December, when the problems were already looming.

Being less stable, as noted, to produce the second component requires strict temperature controls and more difficult conditions to achieve than required by the first. This resulted in the fact that, in the case of Argentina, more than six million vaccines arrived from Moscow, less than a million were second doses. An approximate ratio of five for one.

Sputnik V uses human adenovirus as a vector. Strictly speaking, these are two different adenoviruses (26 and 5) to elicit a larger and longer lasting immune system response. To these adenoviruses, part of the spike protein that belongs to the coronavirus is added to elicit the immune response. This formula offers an efficiency of 92 percent, something which with the Sputnik light is reduced to 79.4.

PS