Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on Sunday, 6 February, granted emergency use permission to single-dose Sputnik Light COVID-19 vaccine in India, Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya said in a tweet.
Mandaviya added, "This is 9th COVID-19 vaccine in the country. This will further strengthen the nation's collective fight against the pandemic."
Sputnik Light is the same as the first component of the two-dose Russian vaccine Sputnik V, which is being used in India's anti-COVID inoculation programme after getting emergency use authorisation from India's drug regulator in April.
The vaccines have been developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, in collaboration with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF).
The RDIF has partnered with Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy's Laboratories for the distribution of its vaccines in India
Sputnik Effective Against Omicron, Delta: RDIF
As per a comparative study conducted at the Italian Spallanzani Institute by a joint team of Italian and Russian researchers shows that the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine demonstrates more than 2 times higher titers of virus neutralizing antibodies to Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant than 2 doses of Pfizer vaccine (2.1 times higher in total and 2.6 times higher 3 months after vaccination).
As per the RDIF, the latest findings by the Gamaleya Center based on data from 28,000 subjects in Moscow have demonstrated that Sputnik Light administered standalone has 70 percent efficacy against infection from the Delta variant of coronavirus during the first three months after vaccination. The vaccine is 75 percent effective among subjects under the age of 60.
Sputnik Light has been registered in over 30 countries, the RDIF said on Sunday.
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