WHO inspection regarding quality and safety of Sputnik V vaccine in next month: Reports

The World Health Organisation (WHO), on Friday told news agency Sputnik, that a delegation of experts will visit Russia to assess the Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 in the first month of 2022. The statement from the global health agency came as several countries had pointed fingers on the efficacy and safety of the Russian manufactured vaccine last month. Subsequently, it had announced to review of the quality of vaccines with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) in November. Earlier, the RDIF pledged to present a blueprint of data submission so that the WHO could speed up the assessment. However, a WHO official told the news agency that the investment organisation would submit the final report in the last week of December.

The official informed without the assessment of the RDIF report, the organisation could not visit Moscow for any review. Earlier in October, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said that all blocks to the acceptance of the indigenous vaccine in the WHO had been removed. He informed only administrative procedures is pending. It is worth mentioning several countries the Namibia health ministry announced that the nation would discontinue the use of the Sputnik V COVID vaccine following concerns raised by a neighbouring country, South Africa. Namibia’s health ministry said that the decision to halt the use of the Russian vaccine was 'out of an abundance of caution' that men who received Sputnik V may be at the highest risk of contracting HIV. Subsequently, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that it is assessing the Russia-designed vaccine for Emergency Use Listing (EUL).

Head of the research centre refuted media reports

It is worth mentioning that the vector-based vaccine is jointly developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology and the Russian Direct Investment Fund. At present, the vaccine is approved by 70 countries, making it the second most approved Coronavirus vaccine in the world. Indian Regulators approved the single-shot vaccine back in April 2021. While speaking to Sputnik, Alexander Gintsburg, head of the research centre, said there were "no grievances" raised by the people who take the vaccine. He said a lot of people have taken the booster dose of the Russian made vaccine, but none of them showed any "bad repercussions".

Image: PTI