Russian COVID-19 Vaccine: SPUTNIK V

Recently, Russia became the first nation to officially register a vaccine against Covid-19 and declare it will be launched soon for the public.

Important Facts

• The vaccine is named after the first artificial earth satellite, Sputnik-1 which was launched by the Soviet Union.

• Sputnik-V is the first vaccine against COVID-19 to be approved by any nation.
• Sputnik-V is developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute and Russia’s Defence Ministry.
• This vaccine uses the weakened virus to deliver small parts of pathogen and stimulate an immune response. 
• Other competitors of Sputnik V vaccine are Oxford-AstraZeneca, Moderna and Pfizer (Still in trials).
• India has approved Covaxin for human clinical trials. ZyCoV-D is another vaccine which has entered Phase I/II of clinical trials.
• In Sputnik-V vaccine, adenovirus is used as the carrier for genes or vaccine antigens to target the host tissue.

How does the vaccine work?

According to the experts,  the people who were injected with the vaccine developed immunity on the 21st day after receiving the first dose. The immunity of these people doubled after receiving the second dose.

From the first and second phase, we have a hundred per cent of people developing immunity after day 21. It doubles after the second shot. Hundred per cent of animals were also protected (against the novel coronavirus), said by a Russian scientist.

The general stages of the development cycle of a vaccine are:

• Exploratory stage
• Pre-clinical stage
• Clinical development
• Regulatory review and approval
• Manufacturing
• Quality control

Clinical development is a three-phase process. 

1. During Phase I, small groups of people receive the trial vaccine. 
2. In Phase II, the clinical study is expanded and the vaccine is given to people who have characteristics (such as age and physical health) similar to those for whom the new vaccine is intended. 
3. In Phase III, the vaccine is given to thousands of people and tested for efficacy and safety.
4. Many vaccines undergo Phase IV formal, ongoing studies after the vaccine is approved and licensed.

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