MOSCOW, August 22. /TASS/. The researchers of the Gamaleya center have developed new structures for the Sputnik V vaccine based on emerging new strains of the coronavirus, but so far there is no need to update it, Alexander Gintsburg, head of the Gamaleya center, told TASS.
"We have created structures based on mutant strains. If the regulator decides that it is time to do this (to change the vaccine - TASS), we are ready for this. But now Sputnik V is protecting against all those strains that have emerged recently," he said.
On August 11, 2020, the Sputnik V vaccine developed by the Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology was registered by Russia’s Health Ministry and became the world’s first registered vaccine against COVID-19.
Sputnik V is based on a proven and well-studied platform of human adenoviral vectors and uses two different vectors for the two shots in a course of vaccination, providing immunity with a longer duration than vaccines using the same delivery mechanism for both shots.
To date, the Sputnik V vaccine has been registered in 69 countries globally with a total population of over 3.7 bln people.