(ORDO NEWS) — According to the developers, the effectiveness of the Russian vaccine “Sputnik-V” against the new strain of coronavirus “omicron” is approximately 75%. However, it can be increased by revaccination.
At the International Congress on Reproductive Medicine, Alexander Gintsburg, head of the Gamaleya Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, said that the first Russian vaccine against the Sputnik-V coronavirus is 75% effective against Omicron. In addition, revaccination with Sputnik-Light increases protection against a new strain.
Sputnik-V, created by the Gamaleya Research Center, was the first of six Russian vaccines against Covid-19 that exist today. Registered in August 2020, Sputnik-V is now approved in more than 70 countries. Subsequently, the Gamaleya Center developed a one-component “Sputnik-light” and “Sputnik-M” for teenagers.
All three drugs contain an adenoviral vector that delivers the genetic material of the virus into the cell, which causes an immune system response. Like many other vaccines, Sputnik V targets the S-envelope protein of the coronavirus, which allows it to enter the cell.
However, the S protein turned out to be a highly variable region of the virus particle, so vaccines lost their effectiveness against emerging strains. The record holder for mutations was “omicron” , first discovered in Botswana and the Republic of South Africa in November 2021 and has already spread to 110 countries.
This variant has 60 amino acid substitutions, 37 of which specifically affect the S protein. For comparison, the delta strain only had about 13 mutations.
Despite evidence that those infected with omicron have a milder course of the disease, and the risk of hospitalization, serious lung damage and death is reduced compared to previous strains, this variant of the virus is of great concern due to the speed of spread and the ability to evade immunity.
Obtained as a result of illness or vaccination. So, the blood plasma of those vaccinated with various vaccines against coronavirus neutralizes “omicron” 20-40 times worse than “delta”.
However, as previously reported by the developers, Sputnik-V does it only 11.8 times worse. Since the effectiveness depends on neutralization non-linearly, the Russian vaccine, according to new data, is 75% effective against Omicron.
According to Alexander Gunzburg, Sputnik-V does not require modifications to fight the new strain. For the best protection, he recommended vaccination with Sputnik V and revaccination with Sputnik Light six months later.
The question of the secret of such a high efficiency of Sputnik remains open. One possible explanation is that other vaccine developers, including Moderna and Pfizer, have modified the S protein to be more effective against the original coronavirus. However, after the emergence of new strains, this modification could just interfere with their effectiveness.
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