Sergey Netesov, Head of the Novosibirsk State University's Laboratory and corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), has affirmed that viral vector and mRNA vaccines such as Russia's Sputnik V provide needed protections against the new Delta strain of the COVID-19 virus.

In an interview with Sputnik magazine, Netesov stated that data from countries like the US and UK has shown that mRNA and vector vaccines including Sputnik V protect against the Delta COVID-19 variant.

"They (Vaccines) offered 95 percent protection against the initial strain, and now they give 90 percent protection against the Delta variant," Netesov noted.

He added that the existing vaccines can be used against Delta variant as they are quite effective.

Last month, Vladimir Gushchin, the head of the population variability mechanisms laboratory of the Gamaleya research centre that created the Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19, asserted that Sputnik V provide almost 100 percent protection against severe and fatal infections caused by the Delta variant of Coronavirus. In August 2020, Russia became the world's first country to register a vaccine against COVID-19 under the name 'Sputnik V'.

Sputnik V, also known as Gam-COVID-Vac, uses two different engineered adenoviruses - rAd26 and rAd5 - for the first and second doses. These adenoviruses provide the genetic code for spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 into human cells to enhance immunity.

Reportedly, adenoviruses are known for causing only mild illness in humans as it chooses two different delivery mechanisms, instead of just one like in the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. With the two adenoviruses, Russian developers of Sputnik V were aiming to boost the efficacy of the vaccine to tackle COVID-19.

As per an interim study from a clinical trial published in The Lancet medical journal, the efficacy of the Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 is 91.6 percent. Earlier, the Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology, which developed the vaccine, and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) declared that Sputnik V has a efficacy of 97.6 percent against the disease.