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Coronavirus pandemic

Russian-Italian scientific cooperation on Sputnik V vaccine to begin in April

Sputnik V has been registered in 55 countries with a total population of 1.4 billion

MOSCOW, March 23. /TASS/. Cooperation between the Lazzaro Spallanzani National Institute for Infectious Diseases and Russia’s Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology in testing Russia’s vaccine Sputnik V will begin in April, the Italian institute’s director, Francesco Vaia, said during an online TASS conference on Tuesday. The Lazzaro Spallanzani Institute is an Italian medical center of great authority, which is currently at the forefront of struggle against the novel coronavirus infection.

"We are to formalize our memorandum on cooperation (with the Gamaleya Center) first. We will be prepared to begin joint research in April," Vaia said. Bilateral cooperation envisages exchanges of experts and biological materials and clinical tests, he said. A group of volunteers in Italy may be vaccinated with Sputnik V for research into ways of increasing the vaccine’s effectiveness and creating a "combined" vaccine. Vaia said that the principle of using two adenoviruses was of interest, because it might enhance the effects of vaccination.

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Russia applied for participation of Sputnik V vaccine in COVAX

"We are considering the possibility of a second vaccination of volunteers who at the first stage participated in testing a different vaccine," Vaia said without elaborating.

Also, his institute is expecting the arrival of three Russian specialists from the Gamaleya Center who will test the effectiveness of Sputnik V against the British, Brazilian and South African virus strains.

Sputnik V has been registered in 55 countries with a total population of 1.4 billion. Its 91.6% effectiveness was confirmed by the publication of related data in the leading medical magazine The Lancet. Sputnik V was created on the basis of a well-tested and studied platform of human adenoviral vectors. The vaccine consists of two components, injected separately at a certain interval, which allows the human body to develop a more stable immunity in contrast to alternative vaccines. The European Medicines Agency on March 4 said it had begun procedures to test Sputnik V step by step.

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