Coronavirus: in Russia, they will investigate the combination of Sputnik V vaccines with AstraZeneca | Rehearsals will start in the next few weeks

the Ethics Committee of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation give him approval for the reactivation of clinical trials to combine the first component of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine and the AstraZeneca serum. The committee suspended the approval process in May and requested additional information on the investigation from parties involved.

According to the national drug registry, The new trials, which will be conducted in at least five Russian clinics, will start in the coming weeks and end in early March 2022.

AstraZeneca / Oxford and Sputnik V vaccines involve two doses, an initial injection and a booster, but Sputnik V he uses different viral vectors for his two injections.

Russian vaccine developers and their British colleagues have been advocating since the end of 2020 the possibility of studying the effects of the combination of the two drugs, to offer “more flexible vaccination schedules” and improve long-term immunity.

As, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which promotes the use of the Sputnik V vaccine, welcomed the decision to continue testing.

“RDIF is currently conducting joint clinical trials to combine the first component of Sputnik V, the Sputnik Light vaccine, with vaccines from other foreign manufacturers.“he said in a statement.

And they added: “In particular, Sputnik Light vaccine can be used in combination with other vaccines to increase their effectivenesseven against new variants that appear as a result of the virus mutation. “

Human trials of a COVID-19 vaccine combining AstraZeneca / Oxford injection with Sputnik V had already been approved in Azerbaijan, the United Arab Emirates, Belarus and Argentina.