"There is a high demand": Murashko announced additional supplies of the Sputnik Light vaccine to the regions

Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said that additional deliveries of the Sputnik Light single-component coronavirus vaccine to Russian regions will begin in the coming days.

He told reporters about this during a press approach following a working trip to the Ryazan region.

“All vaccines are available.

We see that there is a high demand for Sputnik Light vaccines, additional volumes have been ordered, and from next week we plan to start deliveries to the regions, ”the minister said.

Along with this, Murashko announced a significant increase in the number of Russians who are vaccinated against coronavirus.

According to him, the pace of the vaccination campaign has increased four to five times.

The day before, on November 5, the operational headquarters to combat the spread of coronavirus reported that the level of herd immunity against COVID-19 in Russia had reached 48%.

It was reported that more than 57.2 million Russians were vaccinated with a full cycle.

The first component was received by more than 60 million people.

Demand for "Sputnik Light"

The Sputnik Light preparation intended for repeated vaccination is in wide demand in many Russian regions.

Recently, against the background of an increase in the number of people wishing to be vaccinated, a number of subjects, in particular the Sverdlovsk and Voronezh regions, reported that they had run out of stocks of a single-component drug.

In this regard, at the end of October, the Ministry of Health announced the organization of additional deliveries of Sputnik Light to the regions.

At the same time, the press service of the Ministry of Health emphasized that in all constituent entities of the Federation there is an adequate supply of two-component vaccines against COVID-19.

Last week, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) announced the publication in the authoritative medical journal The Lancet of a new article on the Sputnik Light vaccine.

"The study of the safety and immunogenicity of the Sputnik Light vaccine confirms that the drug forms a strong humoral and cellular immune response both in the seronegative group (persons who have not previously encountered coronavirus) and in the seropositive group (those who have recovered)," the release said. ...

It is noted that in the course of the study, the majority of adverse events in the participants were mild to moderate, no serious adverse events were reported.

In addition, in mid-October, the RDIF published the results of an analysis of the effectiveness of "Sputnik Light" against the "delta" strain, which has become widespread throughout the world.

According to the data presented, the effective protection of Sputnik Light against the delta strain within three months after vaccination was at the level of 70%, and in the age group under 60, the vaccine efficiency exceeded 75%.

These figures were obtained on the basis of data from 28 thousand people who were once vaccinated with Sputnik Light, compared with a control group of 5.6 million unvaccinated citizens.

As noted in the RDIF, the effectiveness of Sputnik Light against the delta strain exceeds the performance of a number of foreign two-component vaccines.

Many of these drugs, the Foundation noted, show a significant decrease in efficacy to less than 50% as early as five months after vaccination.

Increased morbidity among children

On Saturday, November 6, the head of the Ministry of Health, Mikhail Murashko, also said that the incidence of coronavirus in children was growing in the country.

In this regard, studies are being completed on a drug to protect minors from COVID-19, developed on the basis of the Sputnik V vaccine.

“It should be noted that it is very important to protect young children, therefore, an examination is underway, and a new dosage form is being completed.

We expect it to be available in the near future.

All these vaccines are made on the Sputnik vaccine platform, which has proven to be safe and effective, ”the minister said.

At the end of October, the Moscow authorities said that a study was being carried out in the capital on the safety and effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine for children.

The first stage of the study involved 99 minors (56 boys and 43 girls) aged 12 to 17 years.

It is noted that 92 volunteers received both components of the study vaccine.

The press service of the Moscow Department of Health said that the results of the first stage of the study show that two-fold vaccination of volunteers with both 1/10 and 1/5 of the immunizing dose, targeted at adults, can lead to the formation of good cellular immunity.