The Russian Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine is 91.6% effective, according to an interim analysis of a late-stage, phase 3 clinical trial.
Published on Tuesday by the British medical journal Lancet, the analysis found the Sputnik V vaccine is safe and effective, with no reports of serious adverse side effects.
Nearly 20,000 volunteers participated in the trial, and roughly three-quarters of them received the vaccine, while the remainder took a placebo.
The analysis serves as the first large-scale and peer-reviewed study detailing the efficacy of Russia’s flagship vaccine.
Russia claimed it was the first country to accomplish approval for a COVID-19 vaccine in August before large-scale trials began. Some experts voiced concerns about the development of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine due to the lack of available research data from previous trial phases, though the Lancet study found 94% of adverse effects detected from the vaccine were mild.
“The development of the Sputnik V vaccine has been criticised for unseemly haste, corner cutting, and an absence of transparency,” researchers Ian Jones and Polly Roy penned in the analysis.
“But the outcome reported here is clear and the scientific principle of vaccination is demonstrated, which means another vaccine can now join the fight to reduce the incidence of COVID-19,” the scientists added.
Some Russian front-line workers started receiving injections in December, around the same time the United Kingdom and the United States began vaccinating vulnerable populations. Since January, the vaccine has been available to all Russians.
Sputnik V’s efficacy margin joins the already existing lineup of highly effective injections such as the Pfizer and BioNTech COVID-19 and Moderna vaccines, which both range above 90% effective in protecting recipients from contracting the coronavirus.
Countries such as Argentina and Belarus began receiving doses of Sputnik V before the first large-scale analysis was released, though researchers have said since November that the vaccine could be up to 92% effective in recipients, according to the Hill.
The name Sputnik V is a tribute to the first satellite launched by the former Soviet Union in 1957.
