Egypt authorises Russia's single-dose Sputnik Light COVID vaccine

The Russian-made single-component Sputnik Light vaccine has won the approval of the Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA), announced the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) on September 24. This comes after the two-dose Sputnik V vaccine was approved in Egypt in February 2021, reported ANI. In the official release, the company stated that Sputnik Light vaccine is based on human adenovirus serotype 26, and its authorisation will help speed up the vaccination process in the Middle Eastern country. It further stated that immunisation through the vaccine would also rapidly develop herd immunity in the country with a 100 million population, the highest in the Middle East. According to ANI, this newest approval by the EDA makes Sputnik Light the second vaccine that received a go-ahead after the two-dose Sputnik V. 

“Sputnik Light is safe and highly effective as demonstrated by real-world vaccination data in a number of countries. In particular, the data from the Ministry of Health of the Buenos Aires province (Argentina) shows 78.6-83.7% efficacy among the elderly”, said the official release. Besides, it also stated that Sputnik Light has been found to be 93.5% effective during the ongoing vaccination campaign in Paraguay, according to the country’s Ministry of Health.

The release further stated that the newly approved vaccine is being studied to produce “cocktails” for immunisation and is also being used as a standalone immunity booster. Moreover, it said that Sputnik V, the world’s first registered vaccine against coronavirus, has a heterogeneous boosting approach “vaccine cocktail” at its core and used human adenovirus serotype 26 as the first component and human adenovirus serotype 5 as the second component. 

Russian Sputnik V vaccine

The vaccine has reportedly been developed by Russia's Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology and has been shipped to countries like India, Mexico, Argentina, Indonesia, Serbia, Bahrain, Hungary, UAE, and others. The vaccine initially claimed an efficacy rate of 92%. However, this fell during future tests to 83%, according to Gamaleya and the RDIF. Recently, Indian vaccine distributor Dr Reddy's Laboratories advised administering the doses at 21-day intervals and from the same hospital. Recently the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) approved Sputnik’s single-dose vaccine Sputnik Light to conduct phase III bridging trials in India.

Image: TWITTER/@SPUTNIKVACCINE