The first study conducted on using a cocktail of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine and Russia’s Sputnik Light vaccine has shown “no serious adverse events or case of coronavirus (infection) after vaccination", The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said in a statement.
The study undertaken by the main promoter of Sputnik was conducted in Azerbaijan in February this year.
“To date 50 volunteers have been vaccinated and new participants are invited to join the trial. Interim analysis of the data demonstrates a high safety profile for the combined use of the vaccines with no serious adverse events or cases of coronavirus after vaccination (sic)," an official statement by the RDIF said.
Further, it apprised that the RDIF and its partners will publish the complete results of the trial, including data on the immune response developed by the cocktail in August.
CEO of the RDIF Kirill Dmitriev has said that as "new strains of coronavirus emerge, partnerships between vaccine manufacturers and combining different vaccines are key to successfully fighting the pandemic".
The statement added that with the cocktail "proving successful in creating a longer and more durable immunity against the coronavirus, RDIF took the lead in initiating partnerships with other vaccine producers to conduct joint studies of a combination of the first component of Sputnik V with foreign vaccines".
Clinical trials of a combination of vaccines are being carried out in several countries, with volunteers being vaccinated in UAE.
Further, regulatory approval to conduct trials has been granted in Russia and Belarus, the RDIF stated.
India, which is already administering the AstraZeneca vaccine as part of its national immunisation programme, will also begin the production Russian COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V in September through the The Serum Institute of India (SII).
SII CEO Adar Poonawalla said, "We hope to make millions of doses in the coming months with trial batches starting in September."
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