COVID-19 vaccination: Russia to soon release Sputnik V version targeting Delta variant of coronavirus

Sputnik V vaccine for coronavirus: Sputnik V vaccine to get a version for Delta strain! Global vaccination drives have been gaining momentum to effectively tackle the coronavirus pandemic collectively. However, amid this, a variant of concern that was first identified in India – the Delta strain – caused a severe second wave in the country, and also spread elsewhere, albeit in a more controlled manner than in India. What worried health authorities more was the fact that the new strain contained properties allowing it to escape the immune defences in the body, and they expressed concerns that the vaccines might not be able to defend a person against this coronavirus strain, even as tests were being conducted in labs to check the efficacy of vaccines against the Delta variant.

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However, now, Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology in Russia’s Moscow has said that they would soon be rolling out a version of their Sputnik V vaccine that targets the Delta variant of coronavirus. The Russian Direct Investment Fund has added that this vaccine version would be administered as a booster shot and it would be offered to other vaccine manufacturers as well, according to a report in IE.

The information was shared on Twitter from the official handle of Sputnik V, but no further details regarding the booster shot’s efficacy against the strain, the potential timeline for its rollout or the manufacturers who would receive this version, was shared by either the account or the RDIF.

The Delta variant is the name given to strain B.1.617.2 of the coronavirus and it has been classified as a variant of concern by global health agency WHO and by India, as well. The strain has largely been the cause of the rapid increase in cases that India saw during the second wave, and it has also been a cause for concern in the UK, which has also witnessed some cases caused by the Delta strain. As compared to the Alpha strain, which had caused a spike in the UK last year, the Delta strain has been said to be more infectious and transmissible, even as the strain has not seemed to be causing more deaths in comparison to the Alpha strain.