Russian Vaccines Effective Against UK Coronavirus Strain, Research Centre Vector Says

UK public health officials in December announced the emergence of the new coronavirus strain that is believed to be up to 70 percent more transmissible.

Russia’s coronavirus vaccines, Sputnik V and EpiVacCorona, are effective against the UK strain of the coronavirus, Russian research centre Vector confirmed Tuesday.

The centre, which works under the auspices of the Russian public health agency, said that it “confirms the effectiveness of the Russian vaccines against a British strain of the coronavirus.”

The sera of the vaccine effectively neutralised both the coronavirus and its UK varition, which does not contain the set of mutations characteristic of the British variant, the esearch centre added.

One of the vaccines, EpiVacCorona, was developed by Vector, the other one, Sputnik V, by Gamaleya research centre.

Sputnik V was registered by the Russian Ministry of Health in August 2020. Vaccine was created on the basis of a well-studied and proven platform of human adenoviral vectors.

The use of the Sputnik V vaccine was earlier approved in 21 countries: Russia, Belarus, Argentina, Bolivia, Serbia, Algeria, Palestine, Venezuela, Paraguay, Turkmenistan, Hungary, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, the Republic of Guinea, Tunisia, Armenia, Mexico, Nicaragua and Republika Srpska, Lebanon and Myanmar.

In December, UK public health officials announced the emergence of a new coronavirus strain that is believed to be up to 70 percent more transmissible. The new strain was first discovered in southeast England in September and subsequently spread rapidly throughout the United Kingdom and continental Europe.

Sourse: sputniknews.com