Sputnik Light to be made in India soon: Russian Foreign Minister

Lavrov arrived in Delhi accompanied by Russian President Vladimir Putin and participated in the first India-Russia ‘2+2’ dialogue with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar. Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and Russian Defense Minister General Sergei Shoigu also participated in the bilateral talks.

Earlier today, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which along with the country’s Gamalaya Institute helped create Sputnik Vaccines, said in a statement that it is working with India on registration of Sputnik Lite as a standalone vaccine and a universal booster. Actively cooperating with regulatory authorities. Hopefully it will be authorized in the country soon.

Sputnik Lite is a one-shot vaccine based on human adenovirus serotype 26, the first component of Sputnik V, which has already been approved for use in India.

“Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, a major partner of RDIF, has conducted additional clinical trials of Sputnik Lite in India. Positive data from these trials has also been submitted to the regulator of India,” RDIF said.

The latest findings from the Gamleya Center, based on data from 28,000 subjects in Moscow, showed that Sputnik Lite administered standalone during the first three months after vaccination has a 70 percent efficacy against infection with the delta version of the coronavirus.

The vaccine is 75 percent effective in subjects under the age of 60. For other vaccines, the effectiveness of Sputnik Lite as a booster against the delta variant would be close to efficacy against the delta version of the Sputnik V vaccine: more than 83 percent against infection and over 94 percent against hospitalization.

RDIF claims that Sputnik Lite has been proven safe and highly effective by real-world vaccination data. Notably, the vaccine, confirmed by the Ministry of Health of Buenos Aires, Argentina, has demonstrated efficacy between 78.6–83.7 percent among the elderly. Paraguay’s health ministry also found Sputnik Lite to be 93.5 percent effective during the country’s ongoing vaccination campaign.