The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) announced on Sputnik News that the Nicaraguan government has approved the use of the Russian developed “Single Dose” Sputnik Light Covid-19 vaccine.
The Nicaraguan approval comes just days after the Nikolái Gamaleya Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) announced that the Russian Ministry of Health had authorized the single-dose Sputnik Light for use in their own country.
The RDIF is a sovereign wealth fund that co-invests in high end and talented Russian companies, along with global investors. The fund currently has a reserved capital of US $10 billion under their management.
One and Done
The single dose vaccine offers two important and appealing differences to the current method of administering the Sputnik V vaccine in Nicaragua by the MINSA/SILAIS mobile vaccination unit.
Firstly they only need to visit communities once and secondly, although the frozen vaccine needs to be stored at a temperature of minus 18 Centigrade or lower (e.g. domestic freezer), once thawed, it will be good for one month if kept at a temperature of plus 2-8 degrees Centigrade (domestic fridge).
The BBC World News is reporting that the Sputnik Light is actually the latest version of Sputnik V in a single or “first dose only form”. The results of an extensive Russian survey after the first dose of Sputnik V gave sufficiently good results which were 79.4 percent effective (efficacy) 28 days after its application.
This is considered good enough for the immunization of a greater number of people in a shorter period of time with a single dose, especially given the acute phase we are in with the pandemic and also that an efficacy rate of about 80% exceeds that of many approved double dose vaccines.
There is no word yet on when the new Single Dose Sputnik Light will be delivered to Nicaragua.
Vaccine Doses Donated to Date
So far, Nicaragua has only received double dose vaccines, Sputnik V or Covishield;
February 22nd 2021.
6,000 doses of Sputnik V from Russia.
Enough for 3,000 people.
March 5th 2021.
200,000 doses of Covishield from the government of India.
Enough for 100,000 people.
March 14th 2021.
135,000 doses of Covishield donated by the COVAX Program.
Enough for 67,500 people
May 4th 2021.
70,000 more doses of the Sputnik V from Russia.
Enough for 35,000 people.
TOTALS:
411,000 doses of Covid-19 Vaccine.
Enough for 205,500 people.
