MOSCOW, December 14. /TASS/. Initial data on the effectiveness of the Sputnik V vaccine against the Omicron strain may be obtained as early as next week, Director of the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology Alexander Gintsburg told the Russia-24 TV channel on Tuesday.

"First of all, I would like to discuss the impact of vaccines on those processes that you enumerated. I am ready to discuss this subject in detail and experimentally. I think, next week, since currently the staff of the Gamaleya [Center] are working on resolving the issue as to whether the antibodies that are formed by the Sputnik V vaccine will protect against the Omicron strain," he said.

According to the vaccine’s developer, if the effectiveness of the vaccine against this strain is 2-6 times lower than against the strain detected in Wuhan, it won’t be necessary to alter the preparation.

On November 26, the World Health Organization (WHO) designated the B.1.1.529 variant identified in South Africa as a "Variant of Concern" and assigned it the Greek letter Omicron. In its statement, the WHO noted that "this variant has a large number of mutations, some of which are concerning." The highest number of those infected with it has been detected in South Africa.