Sputnik V can be replaced with variant adjusted to Omicron in 3 months — Gamaleya center

MOSCOW, January 12. /TASS/. The current vaccine Sputnik V can be replaced with a version adjusted to the Omicron strain of the novel coronavirus in 2.5-3 months, the director of the Gamaleya Center (the vaccine’s developer), Alexander Gintsburg, said on Wednesday. "Everything depends not on scientists. The regulatory system is the bottleneck. It remains to be seen how time-consuming the authorization procedures will be - the procedures that allow for replacing one strain (on which the vaccine is based - TASS) by a different one. If the procedures are standard, like those concerning the flu virus, usually it takes six to eight weeks. The manufacturers, will need about two months. If the two processes are simultaneous, then the result can be achieved in 2.5-3 months," Gintsburg said on the Rossiya-24 round-the-clock television news channel on Wednesday. He stressed that the new sample of the vaccine against the new variant of the virus was practically ready. "I’d like to hope that booster vaccination with Sputnik Light will provide protection against the Omicron variant just as it was the case with the Delta strain. But at the same time, we should keep the powder dry. The work to reconfigure Sputnik V in laboratory conditions has been almost completed," Gintsburg added. The novel coronavirus strain B.1.1.529, designated with the Greek letter Omicron, was identified in southern Africa in 2021. According to the latest statistics, nearly 700 cases of infection with this strain have been registered in Russia. On Tuesday, the chief of the consumer rights watchdog Anna Popova said there were 300 such cases. Read more