Moscow: 'Sputnik Light', Russia's single-dose COVID vaccine, is claimed to have shown 79.4% efficacy in averting the virus infection turning into a severe condition.
According to a report by Bloomberg Quint, the country has approved the single-dose version of the Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine after it showed almost 80% efficacy.
The country claims a 79.4% efficacy rate of the vaccine which is based on analysis of real-world data rather than a standard clinical trial.
"Early and mid-stage studies showed no serious adverse events" claimed a statement released on Thursday from the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF).
Russia is also expecting registration of Sputnik Light in several countries as early as next week, says the report based on a telephonic interview with Kirill Dmitriev who is also the chief executive officer of RDIF. He also said that the fund (RDIF) is following Russian regulatory procedures.
"We believe that by June, Sputnik Light will be registered pretty much in most of the countries that registered Sputnik V," Dmitriev was quoted as saying.
"Sputnik Light may also work as "a booster shot" to other Covid-19 vaccines in protecting against mutations of the virus, subject to additional clinical trials", he further said.
According to Dmitriev, the two-dose Sputnik V will remain the main vaccine in Russia while the light version "is mostly for countries that have a significant Covid surge that they need to put down quickly".
Russia's two-dose Sputnik V vaccine rivalled other major shots used in the U.S. and Europe when it showed 92% effectiveness against Covid-19 in a peer-reviewed study. There had been initial scepticism when President Vladimir Putin announced last August that Russia had cleared the world's first Covid-19 vaccine for use before it even completed safety trials.
While RDIF claims more than 20 million people globally have now received one dose of Sputnik V, Russia is having trouble persuading its own citizens to get vaccinated. Only about 8% of the population has had the first dose so far amid fears of a rising wave of infections.