Russia Says Its Sputnik V Coronavirus Vaccine 95% Effective

Explained: How effective are the top Covid-19 vaccines, and when will they be available?

Sputnik V is what Russian Federation claims to be the world's first coronavirus vaccine, but experts have not yet given nod to the drug.

The analysis was done a week after the second days was administered. Dr Reddy's will soon start its phase 2 and 3 clinical trial of the vaccine with 1,500 participants. These states have been either reporting a rise in the number of active cases - those who are hospitalised or are in home isolation under medical supervision, or demonstrating a rise in the daily new cases of coronavirus infections, the Union Health Ministry said.

"The Gamaleya Center has developed one of the most efficient vaccines against coronavirus in the world with an efficacy rate of more than 90% and a price that is two times lower than that of other vaccines with similar efficacy rate", RDIF chief executive officer Kirill Dmitriev said in a statement.

Scientists in the West have raised concerns about the speed of development of Russia's coronavirus vaccines, suggesting that researchers might be cutting corners after coming under pressure from the authorities to deliver.

The announced price of Pfizer vaccines is around $19.50 and Moderna is expected to be priced at $25-$37 per dose, which excludes the cost of storage and administration.

The Russian vaccine has proven to be unique since it uses two different vectors based on the human adenovirus, which allows for a stronger and longer-term immune response as compared with vaccines based on one and the same vector for both doses. Following the completion of phase-III clinical trials of the Sputnik V vaccine, Gamaleya Center will provide access to the full clinical trial report. Dr Reddy's expects the clinical trial to complete around March or April.

The statement reported that the effectiveness of Sputnik-V exceeded 95 percent after 42 days of testing.

The evaluation was carried out among 18,794 volunteers 28 days after receiving the first dose (7 days after the second dose) of the vaccine or placebo, upon reaching the second checkpoint in line with clinical trial protocols.

About two weeks ago, Sputnik V's developers claimed that the initial trial results have found the vaccine to be 92 per cent effective.

Russian Federation plans to produce around 2 million doses of Sputnik V this year, and Dmitriev said Moscow and its foreign partners had capacity to make more than a billion doses starting from next year, enough to vaccinate more than 500 million people. The vaccine supplies for the global market will be produced by RDIF's worldwide partners in India, Brazil, China, South Korea and other countries.