In the latest move, the Russian health officials on
Thursday approved the use of a single-dose version of the Sputnik V Covid-19
vaccine.
In a statement issued by the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which helped finance the vaccine said, “Sputnik Light showed 79.4% efficacy”, compared to 79.4% of two shots of Sputnik V.
It further added that the results were drawn from “data taken 28 days after the injection was administered as part of Russia’s mass vaccination drive between 5 December 2020 and 15 April 2021.”
It may be noted here that the Russian vaccine against the contagious coronavirus has been approved for use in more than 60 countries. However, it has not received approval from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) or the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
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The rationale behind this could be that some Western nations are enraged by the vaccine name ‘Sputnik V’ which has been named after the Soviet-era satellite fearing that the Kremlin would use it as a soft power tool to advance its interests.
According to the leading vaccine studies, Sputnik V two doses has shown over 90 percent efficacy in August 2020 before the large-scale clinical trials. Presently, the third-phase trials of vaccine trials concluded in February in which 7,000 people were inoculated. Their interim results are expected this year, said the developer of the Russian vaccine ‘Gamaleya Research Institute,’
It may be reiterated here that over 20 million people across the globe have already received their first jab of Sputnik V.