Russian Covid vaccine is 92% effective, says preliminary study

SAO PAULO – On Wednesday (11), the Gamaleya Institute, a Russian research institution, announced through a statement that Sputnik V, the first vaccine developed in the country against Sars-CoV-2, showed an effectiveness of 92% in prevention. COVID-19.

Scientists have yet to review the preliminary data and publish it in a scientific journal to confirm it. Also according to the statement, the definition of effectiveness came after “the calculation based on 20 confirmed cases of Covid-19 among vaccinated individuals and among those who received placebo.”

Currently, the research involves 40 thousand volunteers in phase 3, which is the final stage. More than 20,000 of them have already received the first dose and another 16,000 have received both doses. The data was demonstrated after an analysis performed 21 days after the administration of the first dose.

The Gamaleya Institute also reported that there were no unexpected adverse events during the trials and that follow-up of the participants is still ongoing.

“The use of the vaccine and the results of clinical tests show that it is an effective solution to stop the spread of the coronavirus, a prevention tool, and this is the most successful way to defeat the pandemic,” says the Minister of Health. Mikhail Murashko, in the official statement.

Second vaccine to show efficacy data

Sputnik V is the second vaccine against Covid-19 that shows preliminary results in phase 3 tests. Last Tuesday (10), the pharmaceutical company Pfizer and the German laboratory BioNTech announced that their BNT 162b is 90% effective in prevention of the illness.

Despite initial vaccine-related controversies at the Gamaleya Institute, such as registration even before the last phase of testing began, the initial stages had their safety confirmed by a technical study published in the journal “The Lancet.” At that time, the vaccine also became part of the list of available immunizations according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

However, recent effectiveness results have yet to be published in any medical journal.

In addition to Sputnik V, Russia has two more vaccines in the test phase. EpiVakCorona, created by the Vektor Institute in Novossibirsk, is also in the final stage and has already been registered by the Russian government. The third immunization, still unnamed, was developed by the Chumarov Center and began the second phase of testing on October 4. Both are not on the WHO list.

(With international agencies)