India approves one-shot Sputnik Light COVID vaccine

INTERNATIONAL DESK: India’s drug regulator on Sunday granted emergency use authorisation (EUA) to Single-dose Sputnik Light Covid-19 vaccine in India.

With this, Sputnik light becomes the ninth Covid-19 vaccine that has been granted EUA in the country.

“This will further strengthen the nation’s collective fight against the pandemic,” tweeted Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya.

India has given regulatory approval to Russia’s one-shot Sputnik Light COVID-19 vaccine after it authorized Russia’s main vaccine – the two-dose Sputnik V – last year, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said on Sunday.

Sputnik Light, the first component of the Sputnik V vaccine, can be used as a booster shot with other vaccines, RDIF said.

Head of the fund Kirill Dmitriev called Sputnik Light in a statement “the solution to increase efficacy and duration of other vaccines, including against Omicron variant”.

RDIF struck deals with seven Indian pharmaceutical companies to make a total of 1 billion Sputnik doses both for export and for use in India. (The Economic Times, Reuters)