The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund) today announced the Russian single-component Sputnik Light vaccine against coronavirus has been approved by the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Armenia.

Sputnik Light vaccine based on human adenovirus serotype 26 is the first component of the Sputnik V vaccine. Immunization with Sputnik Light will help Armenia to significantly reduce the infection rate in the country and create herd immunity in a short time frame. In February 2021 the two-dose Sputnik V vaccine was also approved in Armenia.

Sputnik Light is safe and highly effective as demonstrated by the real-world vaccination data in a number countries. In particular, the data from the Ministry of Health of the Buenos Aires province (Argentina) shows 78.6-83.7% efficacy among the elderly. In Paraguay Sputnik Light is 93.5% effective during the ongoing vaccination campaign according to the country’s Ministry of Health.

Thanks to its safety and efficacy, single-component Sputnik Light vaccine is now both used on standalone basis and also studied in combination with vaccines from other producers in a number of countries.

The heterogeneous boosting approach (“vaccine cocktail” using human adenovirus serotype 26 as the first component and human adenovirus serotype 5 as the second component) was at the core of Sputnik V, the world’s first registered vaccine against coronavirus. With this approach proving successful in creating a longer and more durable immunity against the coronavirus, RDIF took the lead in initiating partnerships with other vaccine producers to conduct joint studies of a combination of the first component of Sputnik V with foreign vaccines.

Studies on combination of Sputnik Light with other vaccines are ongoing in Argentina, Azerbaijan, UAE and have been approved in Russia and Belarus.

Key advantages of Sputnik Light:

• Sputnik Light is the first component (recombinant human adenovirus serotype number 26 (rAd26)) of Sputnik V – the world’s first registered vaccine against coronavirus.
• Sputnik Light has proven effective against all new strains of coronavirus, as demonstrated by the Gamaleya Center during laboratory tests.
• Sputnik Light is compatible with standard vaccine storage and logistics requirements.
• The Sputnik Light vaccine is based on a well-studied human adenoviral vector platform that has proven to be safe and effective, with no long-term side effects, as confirmed in over 250 clinical trials conducted globally over the past two decades (while the history of use of human adenoviruses in vaccine development started in 1953).