India / Sputnik V to offer booster shot against Delta variant to other manufacturers

New Delhi: The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said on Thursday Sputnik V, the Russian-made vaccine against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), will soon offer a booster shot or second dose to other vaccine manufacturers. This booster shot, the RDIF said, has been adjusted to work against the Delta Covid-19 variant, which was first detected in India.

“Sputnik V will soon offer a booster shot, adjusted to work against the Delta variant of coronavirus, first detected in India, to other vaccine manufacturers,” the makers of Sputnik V said in a tweet.

“Sputnik V is more efficient against the Delta variant of coronavirus first detected in India, than any other vaccine that published results on this strain so far – the Gamaleya Centre study submitted for publication in an international peer-reviewed journal,” the makers said further.

The Delta variant or the B1.617.2 strain is believed to be responsible for India’s devastating second Covid-19 wave, which was at its peak in April-May, and saw the country reporting record daily Covid-19 cases and deaths due to the viral disease. The World Health Organization (WHO) has listed the Delta variant as the fourth variant of concern (VoC).

B1.617.1 strain or the Kappa variant, too, was first detected in India.

Sputnik V, which is world’s first registered vaccine against Covid-19, received emergency use authorisation (EUA) in India in April. In January, Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, and Oxford University-AstraZeneca’s shot, which is being manufactured in the country as Covishield by Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), were granted EUA by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI). Covaxin and Covishield have been used since the beginning of the nationwide vaccination drive on January 16.

A total of 67 countries, including India, have authorised the shot.

Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, which, like Bharat Biotech, is based in Hyderabad, is Sputnik V’s distributor in India. Earlier on Thursday, it was announced that the vaccine will be available in nine more cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Chennai.