Following the decision by the US Food and Drug Administration allowing individuals to receive booster shots that are different from their first COVID-19 vaccine doses, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund) reiterates that the heterologous boosting approach pioneered by the Russian Sputnik V vaccine is one of the best solutions against the pandemic. The mix&match approach pioneered by Sputnik V strengthens and lengthens immune response, increases vaccine efficacy against new mutations and provides flexibility to vaccination efforts worldwide. 

As part of the global effort to join forces in the fight against the pandemic, RDIF took the lead in initiating partnerships with other vaccine producers to conduct joint mix&match studies. The latest findings by the Gamaleya Center based on data from 28,000 subjects in Moscow have demonstrated the Sputnik Light vaccine administered standalone has 70 per cent efficacy against infection from the Delta variant of coronavirus during the first three months after vaccination. The vaccine is 75 per cent effective among subjects under the age of 60. 

Efficacy of one-shot Sputnik Light as a booster against Delta variant for other vaccines will be close to the efficacy against the Delta variant of the Sputnik V vaccine: over 83 per cent against infection and over 94 per cent against hospitalisation.

Sputnik Light has demonstrated superior efficacy compared with some two-shot vaccines, which have shown a major decline in efficacy against the Delta variant to less than 50 per cent five months after injection. Standalone use of Sputnik Light also provides much higher efficacy against severe disease and hospitalisations. 

Kirill Dmitriev, CEO, Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), said, "Russia took the lead in utilising the vaccine cocktail approach (with heterologous boosting at the core of the Sputnik V vaccine) and was also the first to offer vaccine partnerships to other producers. Clinical trials of combinations of the first component of Sputnik V (the one-shot Sputnik Light vaccine) with other vaccines are successfully ongoing around the world. Sputnik Light demonstrates strong safety and immunogenicity results in joint studies making it a universal booster and one of the best solutions for revaccinating individuals, who had been previously administered other vaccine.”