Will a single dose of Sputnik jab do the job? – no scientific backing to prove the claim

An ‘expert committee’ has recommended that a single dose of Sputnik vaccine is sufficient, Cabinet Spokesman and Kandy District MP Keheliya Rambukwella said.

He was referring to the incidents where people in Kandy district were asked to sign a document stating that they agree to get at least one dose of Sputnik.

Although attempts were made by MediaLK to contact the Minister of Health Pavithra Wanniarachchi and the Director General of Health Services for inquiries in this regard, no response was received.

Deputy Director General of Health Services Hemantha Herath said that so far, no committee in Sri Lanka has approved that a single dose of the Sputnik vaccine is sufficient.

MediaLK – Has any committee recommended that a single dose of the Sputnik vaccine be sufficient?

Mr. Hemantha Herath: There is ongoing research. Based on the information obtained from that research, perhaps the expert committee will take a decision in this regard.

MediaLK: Apart from that no decision has been taken by a committee in Sri Lanka?

Hemantha Herath – Not yet. There are two reasons for this. One is that the company itself can say that they are not making a second vaccine. Or we can stop there if we get the immunization we need if it is scientifically proven that only a single dose is enough. 

Not approved by the WHO yet.

MediaLK also inquired from the World Health Organization (WHO) in this regard, and the WHO responded, stating that there are still ongoing evaluations of Sputnik vaccine’s emergency use. The organization also said that the relevant policy recommendations for the use of the vaccine will be issued only after the end of the process.

On March 4th, the National Drug Regulatory Authority (NDRA) approved both the first and second doses of the Sputnik vaccine for emergency use in Sri Lanka. It is stated that there are two doses of this vaccine and that the two doses contain different ingredients. The first dose contains 26 adenovirus serotypes and the second dose contains 5 adenovirus serotypes.

(Component I include a recombinant adenoviral vector that uses a serotype 26 human adenovirus carrying a SARS-CoV-2 protein S gene. Component II includes a serotype 5 human adenoviral vector carrying a SARS-CoV-2 protein S gene.)

Sputnik Lite? 

Sputnik Lite is the first of two vaccines with 26 adenovirus serotypes. According to the Deputy Director General of Health Services, no committee in Sri Lanka has yet confirmed that one vaccine is sufficient, but in some countries, it has been decided to inject only the first dose of Sputnik (Sputnik Lite).

As the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which coordinates the production of the Sputnik vaccine states, Russia, Mauritius, Palestine, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Angola, Russia have approved only the first dose (Sputnik Lite) of the Sputnik vaccine.

According to data from the December 5, 2020 to April 15, 2021, vaccination program in Russia, the Russian Direct Investment Fund states that the effectiveness level of those who received only the first dose of the vaccine was close to 80%.

Based on analysis of data on the rate of coronavirus infection among those who have been vaccinated with both doses, the efficiency of Sputnik V has been calculated as 97.6%.

According to data from those who received only the first dose, Sputnik Lite has an efficiency of 79.4%.