Coronavirus vaccine: Russia's Sputnik V over 90% effective, says health ministry

 Coronavirus vaccine: Russia's Sputnik V over 90% effective, says health ministry

After much anticipation, a representative from the Russian health ministry announced on Monday that the Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 is more than 90% effective, citing data collected from vaccines from the public rather than an ongoing trial.

The comments followed a statement made Monday morning by vaccine developers Pfizer and BioNTech, who said their experimental COVID-19 vaccine was more than 90% effective.

"We are responsible for monitoring the effectiveness of the Sputnik V vaccine among citizens who have received it as part of the mass vaccination program," said Oksana Drapkin, director of a research institute under the Ministry of Health, in a statement.

“Based on our observations, its efficiency is also over 90%. The appearance of another effective vaccine: it is good news for everyone, ”said Drapkin.

Russia is launching the vaccine for home use even though late-stage trials have not yet completed.

Earlier Monday, Alexander Ginsburg, director of the Moscow Gamaleya Institute that developed the Russian candidate vaccine, said he welcomed the news from Pfizer.

“In the near future, we hope to publish the interim results of the post-registration trial of the Sputnik V vaccine, the so-called phase III trials. I'm sure their level of effectiveness will also be high, ”he said.

Russia is preparing to publish the preliminary results of an ongoing large-scale human trial, known as Phase III, this month. She is testing the vaccine on 40,000 people in Moscow.