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New Sputnik V version will be needed if its efficacy drops 8 to 10-fold — expert

According to Alexander Gintsburg, if the efficacy of the vaccine halves no one will even notice it, when it decreases four-fold, it is also not critical

MOSCOW, November 26. /TASS/. A new version of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine will be needed only if its efficacy against new strains drops by eight to ten times, Alexander Gintsburg, director of the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, the vaccine developer, told TASS on Friday.

"Experts know that if the efficacy halves no one will even notice it, when it decreases four-fold, it is not critical. But if the efficacy drops by eight or ten times, it will be necessary to think about a new vaccine variant. But it will be necessary to have the [new] strain and a serum for that," he said, adding that Sputnik V has a ten-fold margin of efficacy.

The Daily Mail reported earlier that British scientists warned about a new coronavirus strain with 32 mutations that had been identified in Botswana.

Meanwhile, Kamil Khafizov of the Central Research Institute of Epidemiology told TASS the new strain, B.1.1.529 was confirmed in Botswana, South Africa, and Hong Kong, where it was imported from South Africa. No cases of this variant have been identified in Russia, he said.

According to Khafizov, the efficacy of vaccines may somewhat decrease against the new strain but they will retain their protective properties.