FDA Approves ‘Mix & Match’ Booster Shots, Endorsing Method Pioneered by Sputnik V, RDIF Says

On October 20, the FDA cleared Moderna and J&J jabs as boosters and backed the so-called Mix & Match approach, allowing Americans to get jabs different to their initial inoculation as protection boost.

The CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund reiterated in a 21 October press release that Russia “took the lead in utilizing the vaccine cocktail approach” in response to the latest decision by the FDA to allow mixing vaccines in a bid to provide Americans with maximum protection against COVID-19.

Sputnik “was also the first to offer vaccine partnerships to other producers,” said Kirill Dmitriev, stating that “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.”

According to the RDIF press release the aforementioned decision by FDA to essentially allow “mixing and matching” the COVID booster shots serves as “yet another confirmation of efficacy of vaccine cocktail approach at the core of Sputnik V” which “strengthens and lengthens immune response, increases vaccine efficacy against new mutations and provides flexibility to vaccination efforts worldwide”.

Dmitriev has also stated that the strong safety and immunogenicity results exhibited by Sputnik Light in joint studies make that vaccine “a universal booster and one of the best solutions for revaccinating individuals, who had been previously administered other vaccine.” With its overall 91.4 percent efficacy, Sputnik V also displayed a 83 percent efficacy against infection with the Delta variant of COVID and 94 percent efficacy against hospitalization.

The one-shot Sputnik Light has also shown a high effectiveness both when used on a standalone basis and as a booster shot. When administered standalone, Sputnik Light exhibited a 70 percent efficacy against infection by the Delta variant during the first three months after vaccination, according to the findings by the Gamaleya Center, that were based on data from 28,000 subjects in Moscow.

The Russian Direct Investment Fund is a sovereign wealth fund established by Russia’s government in 2011 to make equity co-investments alongside reputable international financial and strategic investors – primarily in Russia.