The Lancet, a popular international medical general, reported on Tuesday that Russia’s experimental Coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V has shown 91.6% effectiveness in preventing health-complications caused by COVID-19.
Russia became the first country worldwide to successfully create a COVID-19 vaccine in August last year. The vaccine was developed through a joint effort of the Gamaleya Research Institute and the Russian Defence Ministry. The newly obtained (and very successful) results are derived from data collected from 20,000 participants that took part in the phase III trials.
The Lancet also reported, “The level of virus-neutralizing antibodies of volunteers vaccinated with Sputnik V is 1.3-1.5 times higher than the level of antibodies of patients who recovered from COVID-19.”
Dr Reddy’s Labs, a major Indian Pharma company had partnered with the RDIF to conduct clinical trials of the vaccine and also to manage the distribution rights of the Sputnik V in India. Drugs Control General of India (DCGI), last month, gave a nod to the pharma company to conduct phase III clinical trial for the Sputnik V vaccine for COVID-19.
Mentioning India’s assistance with their vaccine program, Russian Direct Investment Fund Chief Kirill Dmitriev said, “India is a key partner in terms of production of vaccine and we expect that there’ll be a restricted emergency use order for the Sputnik V vaccine this month or next. After that, we will be able to start our vaccine delivery to India.”
“The data published by The Lancet shows that Sputnik V is one of only three vaccines in the world with the efficacy of over 90 per cent but outperforms them in terms of safety, ease of transportation due to storage requirements of 2 to 8 degrees, and a more affordable price. Sputnik V is a vaccine for all mankind,” Dmitriev added.