Sputnik Light can become a major booster for those vaccinated with inactivated Chinese Covid vaccines globally after China has officially recommended mix & match approach with adenoviral vector-based vaccines as boosters
Regulatory authorities of China have approved the mixing of domestic inactivated vaccines against Covid, in particular, Sinovac and Sinopharm and use of a different vaccine, including adenoviral-based, as booster shot.
They have confirmed the efficacy of mix & match approach pioneered by the Russian Sputnik V vaccine in creating a stronger and more durable immunity, including against the Omicron variant, Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said in a statement.
Vaccines produced by Chinese companies (Sinovac and Sinopharm) are widely used with over 4.7 billion doses supplied in China and globally.
“While China’s State Council has authorised mix & match boosting only with domestic vaccines[1], the Russian one-shot Sputnik Light vaccine (the first component of Sputnik V) can become a solution for boosting those initially vaccinated with Chinese vaccines in other countries around the world, RDIF said.
The fund said Sputnik Light has already shown strong results used as a booster in mix & match trials, including for inactivated vaccines. For example, the study conducted in Argentina on Sputnik Light combination with other vaccines has shown that antibody and T-cells response elicited by Sputnik Light as a booster to inactivated Sinopharm vaccine is 10x higher vs two shots of Sinopharm.
“The study also has demonstrated that each ‘vaccine cocktail’ combination with Sputnik Light with other vaccines like Moderna, AstraZeneca and Cansino had provided a higher antibody titer on the 14th day after administering a second dose when compared to original homologous (same vaccine as first and second dose) regimens of each of the vaccines.
“Using Sputnik Light in combinations with all other vaccines showed high safety profile with no serious adverse events following the vaccination in any combinations,” RDIF said.
The heterogeneous boosting approach (“vaccine cocktail” using human adenovirus serotype 26 as the first component and human adenovirus serotype 5 as the second component) pioneered by the Russian Gamaleya Center is at the core of Sputnik V, the world’s first registered vaccine against coronavirus.
This approach had proven successful in creating a longer and more durable immunity against the coronavirus as demonstrated by the real-world data from Hungary, San Marino, Argentina, Serbia, Bahrain, Mexico, UAE and other countries.
To date Sputnik Light has been approved in more than 30 countries with a total population of over 2.5 billion and Sputnik V – in 71 countries with a total population of over 4 billion people.
[1] https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3167691/china-allows-mixing-chinese-made-covid-19-vaccines-boost-immunity
