Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, the manufacturer of the Russian COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V, has clarified that the vaccine does not cause blood clots.
The clarification from the Moscow-based Gamaleya Institute comes a day after the European Commission reportedly decided not to extend the contracts of the UK-based AstraZeneca and the US-based Johnson & Johnson (J&J) for the supply of COVID-19 vaccines due to reports of rare blood clots in the recipient of the vaccines.
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6 out of 6.8 million people in the US developed Cerebral Venous Sinus Thrombosis (CVST), a rare type of blood clotting in the brain, within 6 to 13 days after receiving the J&J COVID-19 vaccine while 44 out of 9.2 million people across the EU developed CVST within 10 to 14 days after receiving AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine.
The US and South Africa have suspended the use of J&J’s COVID-19 vaccine while the EU has paused the use of both AstraZeneca and J&J COVID-19 vaccines.
Gamaleya Institute’s assurance is being viewed as an attempt to allay safety concerns regarding Sputnik V because its vaccine uses adapted strains of adenovirus that causes the common cold, the same technology on which J&J and AstraZeneca vaccines are based.
In an official statement, Gamaleya Institute said:
A comprehensive analysis of adverse events during clinical trials and over the course of mass vaccinations with the Sputnik V vaccine showed that there were no cases of Cerebral Venous Sinus Thrombosis (CVST).
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In August last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia had registered the world’s first effective Coronavirus vaccine.
Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute had developed Sputnik V in collaboration with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) while its clinical trials were carried out in less than 2 months.
Following Russia’s announcement, healthcare experts termed the hastened registration of the first Coronavirus vaccine as dangerous for the world, adding that the development was nothing but propaganda from Vladimir Putin as a bid to project Russia as a global scientific power.
