Russia begins developing modified Sputnik vaccine for Omicron

Russia’s Gamaleya Institute, which developed the first vaccine against the Covid-19 virus, has started the work on a modified version of its Sputnik V vaccine to tackle the threat posed by a new and more transmissible Omicron version of the virus, writes Krishnanand Tripathi, Deputy News Editor of ETV Bharat.

New Delhi: Russia’s Gamaleya Institute, which developed the first vaccine against the Covid-19 virus, has started the work on a modified version of its Sputnik V vaccine to tackle the threat posed by a new and more transmissible Omicron version of the virus which has been reported to the World Health Organisation from South Africa last week and designated by the WHO as a variant of concern within two days, prompting other nations to impose restrictions on foreign travellers and adopting more surveillance to detect and contain its spread.

In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting on Saturday to review the country's preparedness to tackle the Omicron variant of the virus and asked officials to be cautious and more proactive. He also asked the officials to review the country's plan to re-open scheduled commercial flights from next month. Several Indian states have increased surveillance and are asking for additional tests to detect the virus.

Gamaleya Institute said it believed both of its vaccines - Sputnik V and Sputnik Light - will neutralize the latest Omicron variant and has started the necessary studies as both of them have been found to be highly effective against all known variants of the virus.

The state-owned Russian vaccine developer said despite its confidence in the efficacy of Sputnik vaccines against the Omicron variant, it has started the work on developing a new version of the Sputnik vaccine as per the existing protocols for vaccine development.

“The Gamaleya Institute, based on existing protocols of immediately developing vaccine versions for variants of concern, has already begun developing the new version of Sputnik vaccine adapted to Omicron,” it said.

Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund that provides funding and technical know-how to other countries for the production of Sputnik vaccines, said Sputnik V and Sputnik Light will neutralize Omicron as they have demonstrated the highest efficacy against other mutations.

According to the Russian state-owned fund, the new Sputnik Omicron version can be ready for mass-scale production in 45 days.

“In the unlikely case, a modification is needed, we will provide several hundred million of Sputnik Omicron boosters by February 20, 2022,” Kirill Dmitriev said in a statement sent to ETV Bharat.

RDIF, which has often pitched Sputnik V vaccine as a third booster dose to shore up the immunity generated by other vaccines which may decline over a period of time, said several hundred million Sputnik Omicron boosters can be provided to international markets already by February next year, with over 3 billion doses available next year.

Sputnik V and Sputnik Light Vaccine

RDIF says the Russian Sputnik V and Sputnik Light vaccines have proven to be highly effective against all variants of SARC-Cov-2 known to date, which has been demonstrated by an article published in Vaccines medical journal and international real-world data from numerous countries.

Citing a recent study in Hungary, the RDIF said it demonstrated Sputnik V vaccine had the highest (98%) efficacy in preventing COVID-related mortality and 85.7% efficacy against coronavirus infection among five vaccines (Sputnik V, Moderna, Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Sinopharm) used in the country between January-June 2021.

The Russian Fund said, based on this data, the share of deaths from COVID in the unvaccinated population was 130 times higher than among those vaccinated with Sputnik V in the same period.

“According to data from San Marino, Sputnik V is 80% effective against coronavirus infection from 6th to 8th months after administering the second dose, which is much higher than published efficacy of mRNA vaccines of less than 30% after 6 months,” it added.

Sputnik V is based on two vectors

According to the Russian vaccine developer, the Sputnik vaccine's efficacy is based on the heterogeneous boosting approach using two different vectors for two shots, a technology which was pioneered by it.

It said Sputnik vaccines were highly effective due to the use of a proven adenoviral vector platform, which triggers a broader immune response as compared to mRNA vaccines.

In April this year, the Centre allowed Sputnik V for emergency use against the Covid-19 virus as a ferocious second Covid wave triggered by the Delta variant of the virus was ravaging the country, and the first shot of Sputnik V vaccine in India was administered on May 14 in Hyderabad.

Sputnik V was the third Covid vaccine approved by the government after Covishield produced by Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin vaccine which has been developed indigenously in partnership with the Indian Council of Medical Research and Pune based National Institute of Virology (NIV).

In India, RDIF has partnered with several vaccine makers and pharma companies such as Panacea Biotec, Morepen Laboratories, Gland Pharma, Hetero Biopharma, Stelis Biopharma and Virchow Biotech for local production of Sputnik V vaccine.