Sputnik V shows strong protection against Omicron: Joint Italian-Russian study

The Sputnik V vaccine has demonstrated strong protection against the Omicron variant, with over 2 times higher virus neutralising activity compared to the Pfizer vaccine, according to a study conducted by the Spallanzani Institute in Italy in collaboration with Russian Direct Investment Fund.

The Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology (Gamaleya Center) and the Russian Direct Investment Fund on Thursday said that 2 doses of Sputnik V provide more than 2 times higher geometric mean titers (GMT) of virus neutralising antibodies to the Omicron variant of Covid than 2 doses of Pfizer vaccine (2.1 times higher in total and 2.6 times higher 3 months after vaccination). The study was conducted at the leading Italian research institute for infectious diseases, by a joint Italian-Russian team of researchers representing the Institute and the Gamaleya Center in the equal laboratory conditions on comparable sera samples from individuals vaccinated with Sputnik V and Pfizer with a similar level of IgG antibodies and virus neutralising activity (VNA) against Wuhan variant, said a report.

Among the top quartile of individuals with high RBD-specific IgG antibodies, 100 percent of those vaccinated with Sputnik V were able to neutralise the Omicron variant in comparison to 83.3 percent of individuals vaccinated with Pfizer. Among all samples, 74.2 percent of Sputnik V-vaccinated sera were able to neutralise Omicron vs 56.9 percent for Pfizer-vaccinated, it said. Alexander Gintsburg, Director of the National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, said: "The joint study by the Gamaleya Center and Spallanzani Institute confirmed the results obtained in our separate study published in December 2021. The hard scientific data proves Sputnik V has higher virus neutralising activity against Omicron as compared to other vaccines and will play a major role in the global fight against this new contagious variant."

"Results of the study in Italy confirm Sputnik V offers the strongest protection against Omicron. The adenoviral platform has shown high efficacy in fighting mutations of Covid previously. Partnership of different platforms is the key and heterologous ('mix & match') boosting with Sputnik Light will help strengthen the efficacy of other vaccines in light of combined Delta and Omicron challenge," said Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of RDIF.

(IANS)