Sputnik V Covid vax effective against Omicron variant: Study

New Delhi : The Sputnik V vaccine and the one-shot Sputnik Light booster are effective against the vaccine-evading and super mutant Omicron variant of Covid, claimed a preliminary laboratory study conducted by Russia’s Gamaleya Center on Friday.
The study shows that Sputnik V demonstrates high virus neutralising activity against the Omicron variant and is expected to provide strong defense against severe disease and hospitalisation.
The Sputnik V has also demonstrated 3-7 times less of a reduction in virus neutralising activity against Omicron. Sputnik V has shown to be 11.8 times ineffective against Omicron, while Pfizer has shown a 41-fold decline in antibodies generated and Moderna has shown 49-84 times decrease.
“The study was conducted using sera with a longer period after vaccination (more than 6 months after vaccination) as an indicator of Sputnik V’s long-lasing protection, in contrast with short studied periods for other vaccines producers (12-27 days for Pfizer-BioNTech and 28 days for Moderna),” the Gamaleya Center said in a statement.
Further, Sputnik Light as a booster significantly increases virus neutralising activity against Omicron based on sera 2-3 months after revaccination, it said.
The study showed that the virus neutralising activity against Omicron 2-3 months after a Sputnik Light booster is higher than against the wild-type virus 6 months after Sputnik V vaccination.