MOSCOW – Russia’s Sputnik V home vaccine showed high levels of efficacy and safety in a peer-reviewed study released on Tuesday, a potential boost to the Kremlin’s goal of promoting the Covid-19 vaccine abroad and containing the pandemic at home .
The results, from a preliminary analysis of a large-scale clinical trial published in the British medical journal Lancet, demonstrated that the two-dose vaccine was 91.6% effective against symptomatic Covid-19 and offered complete protection against severe cases. There were no serious side effects, the newspaper said. The vaccine was also found to be equally safe and effective in elderly people.
The study could be a significant milestone for Moscow in the global vaccination race, potentially offering the geopolitical influence of President Vladimir Putin’s government in the developing world and the chance to enter the lucrative global vaccine market. Russia – the fourth hardest hit country in the world, with almost four million cases – has also relied on Sputnik V to avoid further expensive roadblocks, as authorities plan to vaccinate 60% of the domestic population by the end of the year.
The injection, which was approved by Russian authorities in August before undergoing large-scale clinical trials, raised doubts due to its accelerated development and the lack of published test data. So far, Sputnik V has been administered to more than two million people worldwide, including in Argentina, Serbia and Algeria, according to Russian authorities.
Tuesday’s results may help answer questions about the Russian shooting.