It was as early as last March that Mikhail Murashko, the head of the Ministry of Health, announced the preparation of an updated Sputnik V against new COVID-19 variants that are circulating around the world. Clinical trials for the drug are currently underway. Previously served as the Center’s director. After receiving funding from the Ministry of Health, Gamalei Alexander Gintsburg stated that an updated COVID-19 vaccine with an updated antigenic composition will be introduced in the near future.
And the future is now. Because the same ministry announced that the Gamaleya Center will update the covid-19 vaccines by this autumn and now, among the endless list of these Covid-19 vaccines we have on the market, we now also have the pleasure to have Sputnik Light. According to the Russian Ministry, preclinical trials have been conducted, and clinical studies have been referred to as a formality.
It was Tatyana Semenova, Deputy Minister of Health to announce that funding issues were resolved and that they hope that the clinical part was just a formality. She added:
“We have very little time, because in the fall we have to launch new vaccines with a new vaccine strain. We do this for four vaccines at once. These are Sputnik Light, the classic Sputnik V and children’s vaccines for two age categories.”
The Sputnik Light vaccine will be the first to go on the market. The updated drugs will be widely available to everyone in the fall.