The Russian vaccine COVID-19 Sputnik V is about 91% effective and seems to prevent serious cases of infection, according to a study published on Tuesday.
The results of the British medical journal The Lancet come from a phase 3 study of about 20,000 people in Russia last autumn.
Concerns about the safety of the two-dose jab mounted after Russia approved Sputnik V in August – ahead of its Western competitors and before the start of large-scale clinical trials.
At the time, President Vladimir Putin said that one of his daughters had been vaccinated with it, although it was tested on only a few dozen people.
The latest study involved about 20,000 participants over the age of 18 in 25 hospitals in Moscow between September and November. Three-quarters received two doses of Sputnik V 21 days apart, and the rest received placebo.
The most common side effects were flu-like symptoms, pain at the injection site and fatigue. Serious side effects in both groups were rare. Four deaths were reported, but none were considered to be the result of the vaccine.
The study also included more than 2,100 people over the age of 60, with the vaccine proving to be more than 92% effective in them.
The Russian vaccine is similar to that developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University. Both use a modified version of the common cold-causing adenovirus to carry genes for the coronavirus spike protein to cause the body to react to a COVID infection.
But unlike the AstraZeneca / Oxford picture, the Russian version uses a slightly different adenovirus for its second booster picture.
“This aims to increase greater immune responses to the ‘tip’ of the target by using two slightly different jabs,” Alexander Edwards, an associate professor of biomedical technology at the University of Reading in the UK, who was unrelated, told the Associated Press. by Russian research. .
Some experts say that the modified booster vaccine could be the reason why the Russian vaccine had better results than AstraZeneca, which has an efficacy rate of about 60 to 70 percent.
Last month, Putin ordered mass vaccinations to begin in the country, which he said would be able to inoculate 700 million people this year, according to TASS news agency.
In December, the Russian scientist from Sputnik V said that the jab could offer two years of protection against COVID-19.
A batch of 40,000 doses of Sputnik V was delivered on Tuesday to Hungary, the first member of the European Union to approve and order the vaccine.
Sputnik V has also received authorization in more than a dozen countries and more than 50 countries have applied for 2.4 billion doses.
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