Russia says its Sputnik V vaccine has 92% efficacy against Covid-19
Moscow, Nov 11 (efe-epa).- Russia’s first registered vaccine against Covid-19 has demonstrated an efficacy rate of 92% in early interim analysis, according to developers at the Gamaleya Institute and the sovereign wealth fund (RDIF), which is bankrolling the research.
The latest update on the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, which is in Phase III of clinical trials, comes just two days after American company Pfizer and German developers BioNTech said their candidate vaccine was able to prevent 90% of Covid-19 cases according to interim data.
The efficacy rate was evaluated after 16,000 volunteers received a second dose of Sputnik V or a placebo 21 days after the first shot, according to the manufacturer.
“As a result of a statistical analysis of 20 confirmed cases of coronavirus, the case split between vaccinated individuals and those who received the placebo indicates that the Sputnik V vaccine had an efficacy rate of 92% after the second dose,” the Gamaleya Institute and the RDIF said in a joint statement.
They added that the phase III trial was taking place in 29 medical centers across Russia and that 20,000 volunteers received an initial dose of Sputnik V and more than 16,000 received a second.
“In addition, as of November 11, no unexpected adverse events were identified as part of the research. Some of those vaccinated had short-term minor adverse events such as pain at the injection site, flu-like syndrome including fever, weakness, fatigue, and headache,” the statement added.
Phase III clinical trials have been approved, or are already taking place, in Belarus, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela, while phase II-III trials are being held in India, according to the statement.
Kirill Dmitriev, the CEO of the RDIF, said: “Sputnik V is the first registered vaccine against COVID-19 in the world, the vaccine is based on a safe and effective platform of human adenoviral vectors.
“More and more countries are recognizing the human adenoviral vector platform and plan to include these vaccines, as the most studied and known, in their respective national vaccine portfolio.”
The news coincided with a record number of 432 daily Covid-19 deaths in Russia on Wednesday, according to health officials.
It brings Russia’s coronavirus death toll since the pandemic began to 31,593. There were 19,851 confirmed infections logged in the last 24 hours, meaning over 1.8 million cases have been confirmed in Russia overall.
Russia is fifth in the world in terms of infection numbers, behind the United States, India, Brazil and France. EFE-EPA
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