Russia’s Health officials have authorised the single-shot Sputnik Light version of its coronavirus vaccine for use, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) announced today, a move that could help vaccine supplies go further in countries with high infection rates.

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which helped finance the vaccine, said in a statement that Sputnik Light had “demonstrated 79.4 percent efficacy" compared to 91.6 percent for the two-shot Sputnik V. The results, it said, were drawn from “data taken from 28 days after the injection was administered as part of Russia’s mass vaccination program between 5 December 2020 and 15 April 2021".

The Russian vaccine has been approved for use in over 60 countries. But it has not yet been approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) or the United States’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Some Western countries have been wary of Sputnik V (named after the Soviet-era satellite) over concerns the Kremlin would use it as a soft-power tool to advance its interests. Moscow registered the jab in August before large-scale clinical trials, but leading medical journal The Lancet has said it is safe and with two doses is more than 90 percent effective. A statement said that the State-run Gamaleya research institute, which developed Sputnik V vaccine, and RDIF launched third-phrase trials of Sputnik in several countries in February.

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