MOSCOW, June 22. /TASS/. The Sputnik Light vaccine against coronavirus, which is expected to enter civilian circulation in the coming days, is suitable for revaccination, according to CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitriev.
He drew attention to the need for re-vaccination sometime after the main vaccination against coronavirus.
"By my own example, I saw that after revaccination (with Sputnik Light — TASS), the level of antibodies to coronavirus, which dropped about a year after vaccination, recovered sharply and increased six-fold within 3 days. Such rapid growth of the level of antibodies, which after usual vaccination takes 4-6 weeks, indicates the presence of strong cellular immunity after the Sputnik V vaccination, which ensures active and rapid production of antibodies when faced with an infection or during revaccination," Dmitriev told reporters.
Dmitriev also noted that Sputnik Light will go into civil circulation in the coming days. According to Dmitriev, the vaccine itself "is very effective in rapidly increasing the level of active antibodies and increasing the level of vaccine protection."
Russian Minister of Health Mikhail Murashko said on Monday that the first batches of Sputnik Light vaccine will start entering civilian circulation after June 25.
Sputnik Light is the first component of the Sputnik V vaccine. The effectiveness of the vaccine is almost 80% starting from the 28th day after vaccination.
Russia’s anti-coronavirus crisis center reported earlier on Tuesday that the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Russia grew by 16,715 in the past 24 hours compared to 17,378 cases recorded a day earlier, and reached 5,350,919. Meanwhile, 331,122 patients are undergoing treatment, which is the highest number since March 4.
In late December 2019, Chinese officials informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia. On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.