Sputnik V vaccine 83 per cent effective against Delta variant of COVID-19, says Russian health ministry

New Delhi: As the world combats the deadly Delta COVID-19 variant, Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) on Wednesday (August 11) said Russia's Sputnik V vaccine is around 83 per cent effective against the Delta variant, ANI reported. 

Citing data gathered by the Russian health ministry, the RDIF said in a statement, "The data confirms that Sputnik V remains protective against newly detected variants and retains one of the best safety and efficacy parameters. The Russian Ministry of Health has also published data on Sputnik V`s efficacy against the Delta variant. The vaccine is 83.1 per cent effective and shows 6x reduction of infection risk. Sputnik V is also 94.4 per cent effective against hospitalizations with 18x reduction in hospitalisation risk.” 

The statement added that Sputnik V, a two-shot vaccine, showed 97.6% efficacy based on the analysis of data from 3.8 million vaccinated people in Russia. “The results obtained over the course of mass vaccination were even better than those seen during clinical trials (91.6% efficacy),” it added. 

In July, RDIF had said that the Serum Institute of India (SII) will start production of Sputnik vaccine at the company's facilities in September. It added that they intend to produce over 300 million doses of the vaccine in India per year. 

Sputnik V was registered in India under the emergency use authorisation procedure on April 12. The vaccination with the Russian vaccine commenced on May 14 in the country.  After Covaxin and Covishield, Sputnik V became the third vaccine to be cleared for immunisation drive in India. India had also approved the production of Russia's single-dose vaccine 'Sputnik light' in May this year. 

Russia's Sputnik V vaccine has been registered in 67 countries so far. RDIF has concluded production partnerships with over 20 companies in 14 countries, including India, China, South Korea, Argentina, Mexico and omong others, the statement said. 

(With agency inputs)