November 25, 2021
VIENTIANE (Vientiane Times/ANN) — The Russian single-shot Sputnik Light vaccine against the coronavirus has been approved for use in Laos, the developer and backer of the jab have announced.
The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russia’s sovereign wealth fund) which markets the vaccine globally, announced on Tuesday that Laos was the 20th country to authorise Sputnik Light, the first component of the Sputnik V two-shot vaccine.
“Sputnik Light vaccine is based on human adenovirus serotype 26, which is the first component of the Sputnik V vaccine. In March 2021 the two-dose Sputnik V was also authorised in Laos. Both Sputnik Light and Sputnik V vaccines have been approved under the emergency use authorisation procedure,” RDIF stated. “One-shot Sputnik Light is a highly effective vaccine when used both on standalone basis and applied as a booster.
The latest findings by the Gamaleya Center based on data from 28,000 subjects in Moscow have demonstrated Sputnik Light vaccine administered standalone has 70 percent efficacy against infection from the Delta variant of coronavirus during the first three months after vaccination. The vaccine is 75 percent effective among subjects under the age of 60,” it added.
According to the RDIF, the efficacy of the one-shot Sputnik Light as a booster against the Delta variant for other vaccines will be close to the efficacy of the Sputnik V vaccine against the Delta variant – more than 83 percent against infection and more than 94 percent against hospitalisation. A one-shot vaccination regimen of Sputnik Light has a number of advantages, including ease of administering the vaccine, monitoring, and more flexible re-vaccination schedule when used as a booster.
Sputnik Light has demonstrated a superior efficacy compared with some two-shot vaccines, which have shown a major decline in efficacy against the Delta variant to less than 50 percent five months after injection. Standalone use of Sputnik Light also provides much higher efficacy against severe disease and hospitalisations.
Sputnik Light has been proven to be safe and highly effective by real-world vaccination data. In particular, the vaccine has demonstrated efficacy of between 78.6 percent and 83.7 percent among the elderly, as confirmed by the Ministry of Health of Argentina. Paraguay’s Ministry of Health also found Sputnik Light to be 93.5 percent effective during the country’s ongoing vaccination campaign.
The Sputnik V vaccine, developed by the Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, was registered by the Ministry of Health of Russia and became the world’s first registered vaccine against the Coronavirus. Sputnik Light is the first component – recombinant human adenovirus serotype number 26 (rAd26) – of Sputnik V.
RDIF is working with partners and manufacturers around the world to ramp up the production of Sputnik vaccines, which can be stored at a temperature of +2 to +8 degrees Celsius, allowing for easy distribution worldwide.