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Russia’s two-dose Sputnik V vaccine has shown 91.6% efficacy against symptomatic Covid-19 in clinical trials, a Lancet peer review confirmed, bringing the global total of vaccines with efficacy to three. is confirmed to be greater than 90%.
The results of an interim analysis, now confirmed by peer review, has also shown that the jab offers full protection against moderate or severe cases of Covid-19.
Alexander Gintsburg, director of the Russian Gamaleya Institute, the state-run virology research center that developed the jab, said the results were a “monumental achievement” and “a great success in the battle against the pandemic world of Covid-19 ”.
Analysis of participants over the age of 60, of whom approximately 2,000 were in the trial, suggests that the vaccine is also effective in this cohort. The trial is ongoing and will aim to recruit a total of 40,000 participants.
The participants received two doses of the vaccine 21 days apart.
Since the study is a few weeks old, it does not include efficacy figures on newer variants, like the one first identified in South Africa, which appear to be less sensitive to inoculation. The Gamaleya Institute has said it expects Sputnik V to protect itself against the new variants.
Concerns over vaccine shortages in Europe have prompted some EU politicians to question whether the bloc will have to turn to the Russian vaccine to help it emerge from the pandemic.
Hungary became last month the first EU state to approve Sputnik V, while EU candidate countries in the Balkans, such as Serbia, have researched vaccines from China and Russia while negotiating block-approved vaccines.
Russian President Vladimir Putin made Sputnik V the world’s first registered vaccine last August even before Phase 3 trials began, alarming scientists who said Moscow was rushing to cut corners to beat Western rivals.
Ian Jones, professor of virology at the University of Reading, and Polly Roy, professor of virology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said Russia now has the scientific data to back up claims for the effectiveness of M. . Putin.
“The result reported here is clear and the scientific principle of vaccination is demonstrated, which means that another vaccine can now join the fight to reduce the incidence of Covid-19,” they said.
The state-run Russian Direct Investment Fund, which sponsored research on the vaccine, says Moscow hopes to produce up to 1.4 billion doses of the vaccine this year, including in countries like China , Brazil and India.
The European Medicines Agency is in talks on Sputnik, already approved in 16 countries, including Russia, Argentina and Iran.
“Russia has done everything right,” said RDIF director Kirill Dmitriev. “We were right to register it early, we were right to tell the world we have one of the most effective vaccines, and we were right to start vaccinating our at-risk staff early. We have saved a lot of lives. “
Despite the promising results, Russia has struggled to convince its people. In an Ipsos survey last week, only 46% of Russians said they were ready to take the vaccine, much lower results in the US (63%), Germany (67%) and the UK (86 %).
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