Covid-19: Russian Sputnik V vaccine 91% effective according to "Lancet" study
A caregiver prepares a dose of the Sputnik V vaccine in Bolivia on January 30, 2021. AP - Juan Karita
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After the vaccines of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and AstraZeneca, the Russian vaccine Sputnik V is the fourth to pass the caudine forks of the examination by the scientific community.
The results of phase 3 of its clinical trial are published in "The Lancet" and are very promising with 91.6% effectiveness announced.
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The test protocol for the Sputnik V vaccine was very classic.
Twenty-two thousand people were recruited and separated into two groups: one was given a placebo, the other the Russian vaccine.
After the injection of a second dose 21 days later, the scientists observed the occurrence of Covid-19 cases in both groups.
This then made it possible to determine the effectiveness of the vaccine.
In this case, it is 91.6%.
Sputnik V is therefore very effective in preventing symptomatic forms of Covid-19.
However, data is lacking to conclude on asymptomatic forms.
The efficacy even reaches 100% for severe forms and seems to be maintained for people over 60 years old, although here too, it will take a little time to consolidate these results.
Finally, the authors of
The Lancet report
do not find any serious side effects related to the vaccine.
“
The development of the Sputnik V vaccine has been criticized for its haste, the fact that it has skipped steps and a lack of transparency.
But the results reported here are clear and the scientific principle of this vaccination has been demonstrated,
”said two British specialists, Professors Ian Jones and Polly Roy, in a commentary attached to the
Lancet
study
.
This "
means that an additional vaccine can now join the fight to reduce the incidence of Covid-19
", insisted these researchers who were not themselves involved in the study.
Sputnik V among the most effective vaccines
These first verified efficacy results corroborate
Russia's initial assertions
, which were received with suspicion last fall by the international scientific community.
At this stage, they seem to classify Sputnik V among the best performing vaccines, along with those from Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna (around 95%), which however use a different technology.
Sputnik V, like the one developed by AstraZeneca, is a viral vector vaccine.
It is therefore much easier to handle than
RNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna
.
Its development by the Gamaleya Institute has however been criticized by the scientific community deploring its lack of transparency.
It is therefore now settled since the data is available.
It is now for the health authorities to decide.
The application for approval in Europe was filed just two weeks ago.
(With
AFP
)
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