Sri Lanka will receive a shipment of 120,000 second doses of Sputnik V vaccines next week, the State Minister of Production, Supply and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals.

According to Prof. Channa Jayasumana, these Russia-made COVID vaccines are expected to be rolled out in Kandy and several other areas.

Sri Lanka’s National Medical Regulatory Authority, on March 04, approved the emergency use of Sputnik V vaccine. It has been green-lighted by a total of 70 countries as of September, 2021.

Developed by Moscow-based Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Sputnik V is the world’s first registered vaccine against novel coronavirus.

The vaccine was initially met with controversy for being rolled out before the release of final trial data but the last stage trial results published in Lancelet medical journal in February revealed that it provides 91.6% protection against SARS-CoV-2.

According to Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), the vaccine’s efficacy is 97.6%, based on the analysis of data from 3.8 million Russians vaccinated with both vaccine components between December 5, 2020 and March 31, 2021.

Two doses are required to be taken 21 days apart in order for the vaccine to be effective. The Sputnik jab uses two slightly different versions of the vaccine for the first and second dose. Although both doses target the coronavirus’s distinctive ‘spike’, each dose in Sputnik V contains a slightly different vector – the neutralised virus that carries the spike to the body.