The World Health Organization (WHO) delayed its ongoing assessment of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine for emergency use because of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, an official from the health agency said on March 16.

Comirnaty

The world’s leading COVID-19 vaccine and therapeutic manufacturers continue to develop treatments for the waves of variants as well as life-changing therapies for disease areas outside the world of coronaviruses. The world’s efforts to combat the global pandemic continue to evolve, as does Coronavirus Disease 2019 as variants and subvariants constantly toss volleys of grenades at the battlefront lines.

A small preliminary laboratory study has shown that levels of Omicron-neutralizing antibodies of people vaccinated with Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine did not decline as much as those who had Pfizer shots.

Russia’s one-dose Sputnik Light vaccine had a good safety profile and induced strong immune responses especially in people who had already encountered Covid-19, according to the results of phase I and II trials published in The Lancet medical journal.

Russia will test a nasal spray form of the Sputnik V vaccine against Covid-19 among adult volunteers, according to a state document published on Oct. 12, as the country struggles to rein in rising numbers of infections and deaths.

A World Health Organization spokesperson said on Oct. 8 that the health agency was “near” to resolving issues on Russia’s Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine, without giving a date for a potential emergency use listing.

A small-scale clinical trial of the combined use of the AstraZeneca and Sputnik Light vaccines against Covid-19 has shown strong antibody growth in a majority of the study’s participants, the Russian Direct Investment Fund said on Sept. 27.

Trials mixing a first dose of the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine with AstraZeneca’s shot revealed no serious side effects and no subsequent cases of coronavirus among volunteers, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said on July 30.

India will have nearly 120 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines available for domestic use in June, the government said on May 30.

The Russian health ministry’s ethical committee declined to approve clinical trials in Russia combining a British shot from AstraZeneca and Oxford University with Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, an AstraZeneca official told Reuters on May 28.