The Russian vaccine COVID-19, Sputnik V, is about 91 percent effective and appears to prevent serious cases of infection, according to a study published on Tuesday.
The results in the British medical journal The Lancet are from a Phase 3 clinical trial of about 20,000 people in Russia last fall.
Concerns over the safety of the two-dose jab increased after Russia approved Sputnik V in August – ahead of its Western competitors and before large-scale clinical trials began.
At the time, President Vladimir Putin said that one of his daughters had been vaccinated with him, although he had only been tested on several 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 placebos.
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 as a result of the vaccine.
The study also included more than 2,100 people over the age of 60, with the vaccine showing more than 92 percent effectiveness in them.
The Russian vaccine is similar to one being developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford. Both use a modified version of the adenovirus that causes the common cold to carry genes for the peak protein in the coronavirus to make the body react to a COVID infection.
But, unlike the AstraZeneca / Oxford injection, the Russian version uses a slightly different adenovirus for its second booster injection.
“The goal is to generate higher immune responses to the ‘peak’ of the target, using two slightly different jabs,” said Alexander Edwards, an associate professor of biomedical technology at the University of Reading in Britain, who was not connected to Russian research. .
Some experts say that the modified booster injection may be the reason the Russian vaccine had better results than AstraZeneca, which has an efficacy rate of around 60 to 70 percent.
Putin last month ordered the start of mass vaccination in the country, which he said will be able to inoculate 700 million people this year, according to the TASS news agency.
In December, the Russian scientist behind Sputnik V said 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 apply for the vaccine.
Sputnik V has also received authorization in more than a dozen countries and more than 50 countries have submitted orders for 2.4 billion doses.
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