Public Health Institute approves emergency use and importation of the Sputnik V vaccine
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The vaccine has been approved in more than 70 countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Hungary. It has been authorized for use on people 18 years of age and older.
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On Wednesday, July 21, Chile’s Public Health Institute authorized the emergency use of the Gamaleya Laboratory’s Sputnik V vaccine for people 18 years of age and older.
Most experts on the Expert Committee for the Assessment of COVID-19 vaccines that convened to evaluate the vaccine concluded that it was safe. However, they are awaiting further information that has been requested, specifically immunogenicity studies.
The vaccine is manufactured by Russia’s N.F. Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology and has been authorized for use in over 70 countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Hungary.
The vaccine is made up of two components: Component I is the replication-incompetent recombinant adenovirus type 26 that acts as a vector, encoding the Spike protein (similar to the Janssen vaccine); Component II is the replication-incompetent recombinant type 5 that acts as a vector, encoding the Spike protein (similar to the CanSino vaccine). The amount of time between the first and second dose (component I and II) is three weeks.
Acting director of the Public Health Institute Heriberto García Escorza explained, “the effectiveness of this COVID-19 vaccine is 91.6%, 21 days after receiving the second dose. All of the studies conclude that the vaccine has a good safety profile. Most of the adverse effects detected have been mild or moderate and did not require medical intervention for recovery. The authorization of this vaccine offers another alternative for Chile’s COVID-19 vaccine supply.”