Covid-19: Russia announces 92% efficacy of Sputnik V vaccine



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According to the Russian Direct Investment Fund and the National Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology Gamaleya, a preliminary analysis of 20 cases of covid-19 identified among clinical trial participants led to the conclusion that the vaccine is 92% effective.

These results are the result of an analysis of over 16,000 volunteers, out of a total of 40,000 involved in the trial, which took place three weeks after receiving the first dose of vaccine or a placebo.

The announcement, released today by the scientific journal Nature, was made Wednesday in a statement posted on the Sputnik V website, two days after pharmaceutical company Pfizer revealed interim data indicate that its vaccine could be effective in 90% of cases.

Pfizer’s results, however, come from a record of 94 infections out of nearly 44,000, which is a larger sample than Russia’s.

Because of this difference, a British epidemiologist, Stephen Evans, quoted by Nature, warns that the small number of cases reported in the Sputnik V study implies a lower degree of certainty about the vaccine’s efficacy.

“Additional monitoring is needed because the results are consistent with much lower effectiveness – 60% – based on this data,” he says.

Another immunology expert cited by the same publication, Shane Crotty, says that “I wouldn’t get anything out of 20 events”.

The development of the Russian vaccine against covid-19 has been controversial, as the protocol of clinical trials has not been made public, unlike other candidates, such as Pfizer’s, and it is therefore not clear if a preliminary analysis was already foreseen. . to 20 positive cases.

“I fear this data has been hastened by Pfizer’s announcement,” another British immunologist, Eleanor Riley, told Nature, warning that “this is not a competition.”

In early September, preliminary results from a study published by the scientific journal The Lancet found that the Russian covid-19 vaccine was safe, caused no serious adverse reactions, and provoked an antibody response.

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