Gintsburg: Updated Sputnik Vaccine to Offer Better Protection Against Delta, Omicron

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - A new vaccine variant has been developed in Russia that offers better protection against the Omicron and Delta strains of the coronavirus, Alexander Gintsburg, the director of Russia's Gamaleya Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, which developed the Sputnik V vaccine, told Sputnik.

"This vaccine was created on the same platform as Sputnik, it will still be called that, only the antigen composition will change," Gintsburg said, explaining that the new version of Sputnik V contains both Delta and Omicron sequences.

The clinical trials for the new vaccine variant will take several months to complete, Gintsburg specified.

The updated vaccine should offer better protection against the Delta and Omicron strains of the coronavirus, as well as the BA.5 subvariant of Omicron, the Gamaleya center’s director told Sputnik.

Elena Malinnikova, head of the Department of Virology at the Russian Medical Academy of Continuing Professional Education of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, told Sputnik that the current spike in COVID-19 cases is not as dangerous as a combination of the coronavirus and other viruses, such as the flu, in one patient.

Malinnikova emphasized that vaccination, including booster shots, provides good protection against viral infections. She pointed out that the coronavirus has been undergoing rapid mutations, but the new strains usually cause only mild illness.

Russia became the first country in the world to register a vaccine against COVID-19, dubbed Sputnik V, in August 2020. The Russian Health Ministry has also registered a new vaccine dubbed Sputnik M, created for adolescents aged 12-17. Clinical trials of Sputnik shots for children aged 6-11 are currently underway in Moscow, according to Gintsburg.