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Preliminary results from the latest phase of clinical trials of the Russian-developed covid-19 vaccine, called Sputnik V, indicate that the vaccine is 92% effective, the Russian Direct Investment Fund said Wednesday at a time when that Moscow is trying to keep up with the West’s progress in the covid-19 vaccine race.
The announcement was made two days after US pharmaceutical company Pfizer revealed that the first results of large-scale testing of the covid-19 vaccine, which it is developing with German partner BioNTech, revealed that the experimental vaccine has an Efficacy of 90. %.
In August, Russia became the first country in the world to register a COVID-19 vaccine. At that time, the vaccine had not yet gone through phase 3 clinical trials (which began in September), a key time when the vaccine is being tested on a large scale, prompting some experts and the Organization itself World Health Organization to show some reservations about whether Russia is skipping essential steps to ensure the safety of the vaccine.
“We have a very effective vaccine”
However, the Russian authorities are confident in the efficacy of the vaccine. “We show, based on the data, that we have a very effective vaccine,” Kirill Dmitriev, director of Russia’s Direct Investment Fund, said Wednesday. (RDIF, in the acronym in English), quoted by Reuters. According to RDIF, the probability of contracting the disease was 92% lower in people who were vaccinated with Sputnik V compared to those who received the placebo and, so far, no serious side effects have been identified in the volunteers.
These preliminary results are based on data collected from the first 16,000 participants in clinical trials who received both doses of the vaccine (administered 21 days apart). The study was carried out after 20 volunteers were diagnosed with Covid-19, and it looked at how many received the vaccine or a placebo.
Large-scale testing will continue for another six months and the results will be published in a medical journal after peer review. Phase 3 clinical trials of the vaccine, developed by the Gamaleya Institute, are being carried out in 29 clinics in Moscow and include a total of 40,000 participants, a quarter of whom will receive a placebo.
Covid-19 Sputnik V vaccine, developed by the Gamaleya Institute
TATYANA MAKEYEVA / Reuters
According to Alexander Gintsburg, director of the Gamaleya Institute, the publication of these results “convincingly demonstrates the efficacy of the vaccine” and “paves the way for a mass vaccination in Russia against covid-19 in the coming weeks.”
On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin assured that all covid-19 vaccines developed by Russia are effective, adding that the country will soon register a third vaccine against the new coronavirus. According to the RIA agency, Putin also said that Moscow is willing to cooperate with other countries in the development of vaccines, but asked that the process not be politicized.
800 thousand doses in November
OR Russian Minister of Industry, Denis Manturov revealed, quoted by Reuters, that Moscow plans to produce 800,000 doses of the covid-19 vaccine during this month and an additional 1.5 million doses in December, with significantly higher volumes expected from the start of 2021.
However, Denis Manturov explained that Russia has faced some difficulties regarding increased large-scale production of biological reactors. Putin also mentioned, last month, the existence of some problems related to the lack of equipment.
Although the authorities claim that the domestic production of the vaccine is aimed initially at responding to Russian needs, the Russian Fund for Direct Investment has already established several international agreements for the distribution of the vaccine (totaling 270 million doses).
A large part of the doses is expected to be produced in other countries, and the Russian Fund for Direct Investment had already announced in the past an agreement to produce 300 million doses in India and an undisclosed number of doses in Brazil, China and South Korea.
The vaccine is also being tested in Belarus and clinical trials are expected to start soon in the United Arab Emirates, Venezuela and India.
