Sputnik V emergency use | India to discuss approval of Russian vaccine: Report

The two-dose Sputnik V vaccine has demonstrated the efficacy of 91.6 percent in age groups 18 and older.

Moneycontrol News

March 23, 2021 / 10:21 IST

Sputnik V is priced at less than $10 per shot, making it one of the most affordable vaccines. (Image: Reuters)

The government panel on COVID-19 vaccines is likely to discuss emergency use authorisation application of Russian vaccine Sputnik V this week. If approved, Sputnik V will be the third vaccine to get approval for use in India. The government has so far approved AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine and Bharat Biotech's Covishield.

The Subject Expert Committee of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) is likely to meet sometime this week to consider the emergency use application of the Sputnik V, Hindustan Times reported, citing officials.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.

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Sputnik V has been developed by the Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology. It became the world's first registered COVID-19 vaccine based on the human adenoviral vector platform.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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