Back'Sputnik V 75% effective against Omicron, may increase to 100% if…’: Vaccine developer. Read here
Protection against COVID variant increases to 100% if one takes Sputnik Light booster dose in six months, it also said
PremiumSputnik V COVID-19 vaccine is 75% effective against Omicron, the vaccine developer Russia's Gamaleya Research Center said on Tuesday. Moreover, protection against the COVID variant increases to 100% if one takes Sputnik Light booster dose in six months.
This comes at a time when India is witnessing the third wave of COVID-19 led by the Omicron variant. The country today logged as many as 2,38,018 new coronavirus infections, of which 8,891 cases are Omicron cases.
How effective are Sputnik V and its booster dose?
"In the population, the effectiveness of the Sputnik V vaccine in relation to Omicron ... is 75%," Alexander Gintsburg, the head of Russia's Gamaleya Research Center, said.
On booster dose, he further clarifies, “Protection against Omicron increases to 100% if a person receives a Sputnik Light booster dose in six months but decreases to 56-57% if revaccination is not done."
The Sputnik V effectiveness against Omicron decreases by eight times but it is still enough for protection, Gintsburg said and further added that the effectiveness of other vaccines decreases by 21 times.
What other vaccines are effective against Omicron?
Last week, Hyderabad-based biotechnology firm Bharat Biotech also said a booster shot of its Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin will neutralise both Omicron and Delta variants of Covid-19.
The study was conducted at the Emory Vaccine Center in Atlanta based on blood serum collected from 13 individuals, 28 days after their booster shot. It was sponsored by Bharat Biotech's partner Ocugen Inc.
“Booster dose of Covaxin generated robust neutralising antibody responses against both Omicron and Delta variants of SARS-CoV-2," it said.
"The neutralisation activity of Covaxin-boosted sera was comparable to what has been observed in mRNA vaccine-boosted sera against the Omicron variant," Bharat Biotech said in a statement. "More than 90% of all individuals boosted with Covaxin showed neutralising antibodies."
India is currently using Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik V, for its vaccination drive.
(With inputs from agencies)
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