New Delhi: India's vaccination drive is likely to get a boost as the single-dose Sputnik Light is about to roll out from September. Major Indian drugmaker Wockhardt on Friday said it has inked a pact with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to produce and supply COVID-19 vaccines - Sputnik V and Sputnik Light.
An agreement has been inked under the aegis of Enso Healthcare (part of Enso Group), RDIF's coordination partner for sourcing Sputnik V vaccines in India.
"We are delighted to partner with RDIF to make a substantial contribution towards providing global supply of the Sputnik V and Sputnik Light vaccines which is one of the most efficacious approved vaccines commercially available," Wockhardt Group Founder Chairman Habil Khorakiwala said in a statement according to PTI.
Sputnik Light is the first component of Sputnik V and is based on human adenovirus serotype 26.
Russia introduced its new single-dose COVID vaccine called Sputnik Light in May. The RDIF had earlier said that the Russian Sputnik Light vaccine demonstrates 78.6 percent to 83.7 percent efficacy among the elderly, according to real-world data collected by the Ministry of Health of the Buenos Aires province (Argentina).
So far, the Sputnik V vaccine has been registered in 69 countries globally with a total population of over 3.7 billion people.
According to PTI, data obtained by regulators of a number of countries during the vaccination of the population, including Argentina, Serbia, Bahrain, Hungary, Mexico, San Marino, UAE and others, demonstrates that Sputnik V is one of the safest and most effective vaccines against coronavirus.
In particular, Sputnik V demonstrates 83.1 percent efficacy against the Delta variant of coronavirus which is higher than many other vaccines.
The vaccine is based on a well-studied platform of human adenoviral vectors and uses two different vectors for the two shots in a course of vaccination, providing immunity with a longer duration than vaccines using the same delivery mechanism for both shots.