Kauvery Hospital in Chennai has announced the administration of Sputnik V vaccine for the treatment of COVID-19. The vaccine, which has been introduced in India after Covishield and Covaxin, is now available to the Indian public. The time interval between two doses of Sputnik V is three weeks.
Evidence has shown that the Sputnik vaccine is safe and effective, and the vaccine is now in use in nearly 70 countries. India plans to also manufacture and release at least 850 million doses, to help speed up the vaccination of its population.
Sputnik V is an adenovirus vaccine, which uses an engineered adenovirus as a delivery mechanism for inserting the genetic code for the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein into human cells. It is similar to the Oxford–AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. But instead of using one engineered adenovirus, as those two vaccines do, Sputnik V uses two different adenoviruses, called rAd26 and rAd5, for the first and second doses, respectively.
The scientific reasoning is to increase efficacy. The two adenoviruses have slightly different methods of introducing their genetic material into a host cell, which would improve the success rate.
Sputnik’s side effects are similar to those of the other adenovirus vaccines, with the notable exception of rare blood-clotting conditions. Unlike the Oxford–AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, there have been no reports of these conditions from Russia or from the other nations using Sputnik V.
Speaking on the vaccine, Dr. Aravindan Selvaraj, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Kauvery Hospital said, "The penetration of COVID-19 vaccine in Tamil Nadu is growing every day, and with more awareness being created around taking a vaccine, people are coming forward to take theirs. However, there is also a section of population that has apprehension towards vaccines. I urge those people to get vaccinated as early as possible.”