Russia cites Argentina study confirming Sputnik efficiency against Manaus variant of COVID

Russia Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) on Monday announced that a recent study carried out by Argentina's Institute of Virology of the National University of Cordoba and the Government of Cordoba has confirmed the neutralization effectiveness of the Russian two-dose Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine against the Manaus variant originated in Brazil. The vaccine inoculation also gives an overall strong immune response after vaccination with Sputnik V.

The study specifically praised the immunity generated through Sputnik V as the study confirmed it. Moreover, the variant can also get neutralized with one dose as well as on people inoculated with two doses of the vaccine. The study further demonstrated the following.

• 99.65% of subjects induced IgG antibodies to COVID-19 on 42nd day after receiving the 2nd dose.
• 85.5% of subjects induced IgG antibodies to COVID-19 on 14th day after receiving the 1st dose.

"The study carried out in Argentina has confirmed high efficacy of the Sputnik V vaccine against new strains and variants of coronavirus. Argentina was the first country of Latin America to start vaccinating the population with Sputnik V. Now we see that the use of the Russian vaccine helps to protect the population not only against known strains, but also new variants, including the Manaus one, with strong immune response generated after receiving just one dose of the vaccine."  Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund was quoted in PTI report. 

Sputnik V efficiency

Russia's Sputnik V is said to have 97.6% efficacy and the effectiveness was determined based on the analysis of data on the coronavirus infection rate among those in Russia vaccinated with both components of Sputnik V from December 5, 2020, to March 31, 2021. Developed by Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Sputnik V vaccine is based on a proven and well-studied platform of human adenoviral vectors, which cause the common cold and have been around for thousands of years. The COVID-19 vaccine is used for two different vectors for the two shots in a course of vaccination. 

Sputnik V in India

On Monday, Domestic pharma major Panacea Biotec started Sputnik V production in India in collaboration with Russian sovereign wealth fund RDIF. The two partners have agreed to produce 100 million doses per year of Sputnik V in India. In total, there has been an announcement of 750 million dose production of Sputnik V in India with six domestic vaccine makers. The vaccine approval gave major hope to India which is grappling with COVID-19 surge and shortage of home-made COVID-19 vaccines.