RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Sputnik Light vaccine against coronavirus has reached 93.5 percent effectiveness after being used in more than 320,000 people in Paraguay, the drug’s developers announced Wednesday.
“Current data obtained after vaccination of more than 320,000 people in Paraguay with the single dose of Sputnik Light vaccine – the first component of Sputnik V vaccine – show high safety and 93.5% efficacy against Covid-19,” a message posted on the Russian vaccine’s official Twitter account said Wednesday.
Read also: Check out our coverage on Paraguay
These data were collected by the Paraguayan Ministry of Health and submitted to the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Sputnik news agency reported.
“Thanks to its safety and efficacy, the Sputnik Light single vaccine is now being studied in several countries, both on its own and in combination with vaccines from other manufacturers,” a statement published on the Sputnik V website said.
RDIF Director-General Kiril Dmitriev highlighted the results shown by Sputnik Light, stressing that they surpass those of many two-component vaccines.
“The single-dose Sputnik Light allows Paraguayan authorities to accelerate the vaccination of citizens and the establishment of herd immunity against coronavirus,” Dmitriev said.
Sputnik Light was developed by the Nikolai Gamaleya Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology in collaboration with RDIF. It is a single-dose version of the human adenovirus-based Sputnik V vaccine, which requires two doses 21 days apart for complete immunization.
Russia already has four vaccines against Covid-19: Sputnik V and Sputnik Light, EpiVacCorona, developed by the Center for Vector Virology and Biotechnologies, and CoviVac, produced by the Chumakov Research and Development Center for Immunobiological Substances.