Russia’s Sputnik V Vaccine Declared 92 Percent Effective

Russia’s Gamaleya Center Research Institute claimed its investigational COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V, has demonstrated 92 percent efficacy in a late-stage trial.

The finding was based on interim data from a phase 3 study, based on 20 confirmed cases of COVID-19, split across patients given the vaccine and patients given the placebo. It found that Sputnik V had an efficacy rate of 92 percent after the second dose. The study has so far vaccinated 20,000 participants with a first dose and 16,000 with a second dose, the institute said.

The phase 3 trial got under way in September after the vaccine was already authorized for emergency use. Funding for the trial was provided by the Russian government.