Covid-19 vaccine: All you need to know about Sputnik V

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On April 13, the Drugs Controller General of India (DGCI) gave an emergency authorisation to Russian vaccine Sputnik V,. According to a report by Reuters, the vaccine is set to available in India from May 1. It is the third vaccine, after Covaxin and Covishield, to be approved by the Indian government.

Sputnik V was hailed as ‘world’s first Covid-19 vaccine’ by Russian President Vladimir Putin in August 2020. It was developed by Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology. However, there was a lot of suspicion and uncertainty around the vaccine back then. This was primarily because the Russian government did not share any trial data of the vaccine.

While rest of the world was still struggling to find the origin of the virus, Russia came up with a vaccine that lacked any trial data. It was obvious for people to express hesitancy and skepticism over Sputnik V. But the suspicion mellowed down soon after a journal, The Lancet, published trial data of the vaccine.

Efficacy

The vaccine was identified as ‘safe and effective’ by the publishers. The efficacy of the vaccine was found to be 91.6% after three trial phases. On April 21, Gamaleya institute declared their vaccine to be born with highest efficacy compared to the remaining Covid-19 vaccines developed across the world.

“Russia’s MOH [Ministry of Health] analysis of 3.8 million vaccinated shows Sputnik V efficacy is 97.6% in preventing infection making it the most effective Covid-19 vaccine in the world. Sputnik V is 100% effective in preventing severe cases,” the institute said.

The Institute is said to be developing multiple versions of Sputnik V. While its regular version can be stored at a range of 2-8 degree Celsius, another version of it, which is still under development, can reportedly be stored under common refrigerator temperature.

A striking feature of Sputnik V is that both doses of the vaccine are slightly different from each other. This means, both doses use unique vectors to target the spike protein present in the virus.

The Russian vaccine is, arguably, on its way to global domination. It is being supplied to more than 60 countries now. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has signed up with India to manufacture 85 crore doses of vaccine.

Rollout in India

As India opens gates for every adult (18 years+) to get vaccinated from May 1, Sputnik V could prove to be a catalyst in reducing the severity of the disease within the country. It is set to be priced at approximately Rs 750 per dose in India.

Meanwhile, on April 28, more than 1 crore Indians registered to get the vaccine dose in its new drive beginning next month.