Faced with the advance of the Delta variant, Russia has started applying the single-dose Sputnik Light vaccine

Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko announced this Saturday the start of distribution of the Sputnik Light single-dose vaccine against the coronavirus for the civilian population.

“Yesterday, the control phase ended and the first series of Sputnik Light was put into civilian circulation,” announced Murashko, who he expects some 2.5 million doses will be available by the end of June. “The volume of production is increasing,” he added, quoted by the Sputnik news agency.

Developed by the Nikolai Gamaleya Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, the Sputnik Light is a single-dose version of the human adenovirus Sputnik V vaccine, which requires the administration of two doses with an interval of at least 21 days for complete immunization. The drug has an effectiveness of 79.4% as of the 28th day after its application, according to its creators.

Russia has four drugs against Covid-19: Sputnik V, created by Gamaleya in cooperation with the Russian Direct Investment Fund; Sputnik light; EpiVacCorona, created by the Vector Virology and Biotechnologies Center; and CoviVac, produced by the Chumakov Center. On the other hand, Russia announced today that the last day recorded 21,665 new coronavirus positives and 619 deaths associated with this disease, numbers that have been repeated this week and are close to the January record. The authorities fear that the inoculation is proceeding at a slow pace, because a good part of the population, of 146 million inhabitants, does not trust vaccines.

Until now, only 11% of Russians were vaccinated with two doses. Amid that rebound, new measures were imposed to curb infections in Moscow, the worst-affected city. From Monday, people who wish to sit in bars or restaurants in the Russian capital must show a QR code that certifies they have been immunized, while hospitals will reject patients who request elective surgeries. In addition, public spaces, including outdoor play areas, have been closed, while the Government and service industries have set themselves the goal of vaccinating 60% of their employees in the coming days. The total death toll from the pandemic in Russia reaches 132,683 while 5.4 million people have tested positive for the virus.

High efficiency

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) announced that the Russian coronavirus vaccine Sputnik light (i.e. the first component of the Sputnik V vaccine) shows an effectiveness of 78.6% to 83.7% in the elderly, according to data collected by the Ministry of Health of the province of Buenos Aires.

According to data from more than 186,000 people aged 60 to 79, more than 40,000 of them received an injection of Sputnik Light (initial dose of Sputnik V) as part of the large-scale civilian vaccination program, the infection rate between days 21 and 40 from the date of receiving the first dose was only 0.446%. At the same time, the infection rate among the unvaccinated adult population was 2.74% over a comparable period.

Adjusted data weighted for age, sex, and a number of other parameters between groups of vaccinated and unvaccinated subjects demonstrated comparable efficacy of the Russian vaccine: 78.6%, as reported by the RDIF.

RDIF’s Kirill Dmitriev shared: “The publication of independent data in the province of Buenos Aires confirms the high effectiveness of the Russian vaccine for the elderly belonging to a high-risk group. An efficacy level close to 83.7% is higher than that of many two-dose vaccines. As the report from the provincial health ministry showed, vaccination with Sputnik Light (the first component of the Sputnik V vaccine) can significantly reduce the number of infections and hospitalizations. We plan to continue to cooperate with colleagues in Argentina to obtain more data on the use of the Russian vaccine. “

The main objective of the study was to compare the proportion of confirmed infections, hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 in vaccinated and unvaccinated people, after 21 days and up to 40 days from date of vaccination or date of start of follow-up. People vaccinated from December 29, 2020 to March 21, 2021, who had not received their second dose of Sputnik-V and with at least 40 days of follow-up, were included. People with a recorded history of SARS-CoV-2 infection were excluded.

Argentina was the first Latin American country to officially register Sputnik V on its territory. The recording was made by means of an emergency use authorization. Currently, Sputnik V is registered in 65 countries, with a total population of 3.2 billion people.

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