Sputnik V jab found effective against new coronavirus variants

In its latest push to promote the Russian-developed COVID-19 vaccine, the Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, today announced strong results of the study on neutralizing activity of sera from individuals vaccinated with Sputnik V vaccine against new variants of SARS-CoV-2.

Vaccination with Sputnik V has produced protective neutralizing titers against new variants, including Alpha B.1.1.7 (first identified in the UK), Beta B.1.351 (first identified in South Africa), Gamma P.1 (first identified in Brazil), Delta B.1.617.2 and B.1.617.3 (first identified in India) and Moscow endemic variants B.1.1.141 and B.1.1.317 with mutations in the receptor-binding domain (RBD).

The data confirms that Sputnik V remains protective against newly-detected variants. Notably, Sputnik V demonstrated significantly less of a reduction in its virus neutralizing activity against a number of variants compared to data from other vaccine producers, which had earlier confirmed efficacy of their vaccines against new variants of coronavirus.