Single-dose Sputnik Light offers hope in countries battling COVID surge

Countries faced with sudden and uncontrolled rise in COVID cases now have hope with the Russian health authorities approving one-shot Sputnik Light version of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) announced on Thursday (May 6).

While the two-shot Sputnik V, which will be available in India shortly, has an efficacy rate of 91.6%, the one-dose Sputnik Light has demonstrated 79.4% efficacy. The RDIF quoted 28-day data, taken from the administration of the vaccine in Russia between December 5, 2020 and April 15, 2021, to say that Sputnik Light is definitely an effective vaccine. Besides, Sputnik Light has proven effective against all new strains of coronavirus. The Phase III clinical trials are still happening in Russia, the United Arab Emirates and Ghana. The interim results are expected by late May.

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The obstacle, however, is the lack of approval from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) or the United States’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This is primarily because the West is suspicious of Kremlin’s intent as they feel Russia may use Sputnik V — named after the Soviet-era satellite — as a soft power to advance its interests.

The world though is looking at the lighter version of Sputnik with hope because the single shot jab, costing less than $10, has been set aside by the Russian authorities for export. It may prove highly efficient in a country in the grip of an acute outbreak which needs to be subdued quickly.

The US and European countries suspect Russia may use the vaccine as a weapon to shift global power balance in its favour, especially so because the country is keen on exporting the vaccine when just 80 lakh of the Russians have been inoculated with the two-dose Sputnik V so far.

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The Russians, meanwhile, claim their single dose jab is meant to help the world. “The single-dose regimen solves the challenge of immunizing large groups in a shorter time, which is especially important during the acute phase of the spread of coronavirus, achieving herd immunity faster,” said RDIF head Kirill Dmitriev.