The Russian single-dose vaccine Sputnik Light has been shown to have good safety features and elicit a strong immune response, especially in people who have already been infected with Covid-19, according to the results of phase I and II clinical trials published in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe.
The vaccine, which is the first dose of the two-dose Sputnik V vaccine introduced last year, has already entered later studies and is widely used in Russia, but the publication of early research in a leading Western journal is a milestone as Russia moves in the direction of to make Sputnik Light its main exportable vaccine.
Scientists at the Gamaley Institute in Moscow, which developed the vaccine, put under medical supervision 110 volunteers aged 18-59 in St. Petersburg, who were vaccinated in January 2021, studying the reaction of their immune system and its main effects.
The results analyzed the virus neutralization versus the original variant and showed a small but statistically significant reduction in the antibody response for the Alpha and Beta strains. The dominant strain of Russia is now the Delta variant.
“Sputnik Light could be used not only for primary vaccination, but could also be useful as an effective tool for further re-vaccination or post-vaccination with Covid-19,” the study said.
Last week, Health Minister Mikhail Muraska said that with the dispersal of the Delta variant, the ministry recommended the use of Sputnik Light only for repeated vaccinations.
The Kremlin later announced that Sputnik Light was an autonomous vaccine against Covid-19, but some Russian regions reported that they had only started giving it to people with antibodies.
Sputnik Light was approved for clinical use in Russia on May 6 based on the results of clinical trials published in The Lancet, while the Gamaley Institute has begun an international, placebo-controlled phase III clinical trial with 6,000 volunteers.
“We believe that the Sputnik Light vaccine could help accelerate the rate of vaccination in Russia as well as in other countries that do not have an adequate supply of vaccines,” the researchers wrote.
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