A modest early laboratory investigation found that patients who received Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine had lower levels of Omicron-neutralizing antibodies than those who received Pfizer doses.
The joint Russian-Italian study – funded by the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which markets Sputnik V abroad – compared the blood serum of people who had received the different vaccines.
The preliminary study was conducted by scientists from the Spallanzani Institute in Italy and Gamaleya Institute in Moscow, the developer of Sputnik V vaccine.
Researchers said samples taken three to six months after the second dose of a vaccine have shown that the levels of antibodies in recipients of two doses of Sputnik V were more resistant to Omicron than in those vaccinated with Pfizer.
It included 51 people vaccinated with Sputnik V and 17 after two shots of the Pfizer vaccine.
“Today the necessity of third booster vaccination is obvious,” the preliminary study published on Jan. 19 said.
