Russian scientists say the country’s Sputnik V vaccine appears safe and effective against COVID-19, according to early results of a progressive study published in the British medical journal, in a heightened up for a bigger view more is being bought by countries around the world that are desperate to halt the devastation caused by the pandemic.
Researchers say based on their lawsuit, which involved about 20,000 people in Russia last autumn, that the vaccine is about 91.6 percent effective and that the bullet also to prevent people from becoming seriously ill with COVID-19. The study was published online Tuesday in The Lancet magazine.
“There are no arguments left for critics of this vaccine, the article in the Lancet is a checkmate,” said Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which was part of the development of Sputnik V.
Scientists unrelated to the investigation acknowledged that the pace at which the Russian vaccine was made and spread out was due to “unusual haste, corner cuts and lack of transparency”.
“But the result reported here is clear,” British scientists Ian Jones and Polly Roy wrote in an accompanying statement.
“Another vaccine can now go into the fight to reduce the incidence of COVID-19.”
Following the publication of the study, health regulators in Mexico approved a Russian vaccine for emergency use, while the drug company that manufactures the vaccine said Brazil – the country with the second largest number of deaths from coronavirus – that the decisions were likely to go ahead approval for late stage tests.
Health workers receive Sputnik V vaccine in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Tuesday [Juan Mabromata/AFP]
“As soon as the Brazilian health regulator approves the tests, we will start and take 60-90 days,” União Quimica CEO Fernando Marques told Reuters news agency.
Health workers in Argentina began receiving the vaccine on Tuesday.
Test of 20,000 people
The Sputnik V vaccine was approved by the Russian government with a long wait on 11 August. President Vladimir Putin personally broke the news on national television and said one of his daughters had already been vaccinated.
At the time, the vaccine had only been tested on a few dozen people, raising doubts about its effectiveness and safety.
Some early results were published in September, but participants were followed for only about 42 days and there was no comparison group.
The latest study is based on a study in which about 20,000 people over the age of 18 at 25 hospitals in Moscow between September and November, three-quarters of whom received two doses of the Russian vaccine 21 days apart and the remainder received placebo shots.
The most commonly reported side effects were flu-like symptoms, pain at the injection site and fatigue. Adverse side effects were very rare in both groups and four deaths were reported in the study, although none were thought to be due to the vaccine.
The study included more than 2,100 people over the age of 60 and the vaccine appeared to be about 92 percent effective, he said.
The investigation continues, but in December, the Russian Ministry of Health said it would cut the size of the survey from the expected 40,000 to about 31,000 volunteers who have already registered. Vaccine developers raised ethical concerns about the use of placebo shots.
Better immune response than AstraZeneca?
The Russian vaccine uses a modified version of the common cold-induced adenovirus to carry genes for the spike protein in the coronavirus as a way to stimulate the body to respond if COVID-19 is ingested.
That is a similar vaccine technology developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University. But unlike that two-dose vaccine, the Russians used a slightly different adenovirus to enhance the second dose.
Some experts argue that this approach may explain why the Russian vaccine appears to have produced a better immune response than the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is reported to have a 60-degree efficacy. -70 percent.
“This aims to bring higher immune responses to the ‘spike’ target by using two slightly different injections,” said Alexander Edwards, associate professor of biochemical technology at the University of British Reading. .
Sputnik V was introduced in a major vaccination campaign in Russia in December, with doctors and teachers the first to get the hang of it.
Last month, Putin ordered the effort to expand and to start major vaccinations.
Outside of Russia, Sputnik V has been licensed in more than a dozen countries, according to the fund – including the former Soviet republics of Belarus, Armenia and Turkmenistan; Latin American countries including Argentina, Bolivia and Venezuela; some African countries as well as Serbia, Iran, Palestine, and the UAE.
In the European Union, the bullet received its original license in Hungary and is still subject to final approval by the country’s National Center for Public Health. Responding to the findings, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said all vaccines in the EU were “welcome” as long as regulatory requirements were met.
Batches of Russian vaccines have already been given to six countries. In all, more than 50 countries submitted applications for 2.4 billion doses, RDIF news agency The Associated Press reported.
Algeria receives the Sputnik vaccine, AstraZeneca
Algeria will start rolling out the Sputnik V vaccine “within the next few weeks”, according to Kamel Mansouri, head of Algeria’s national medicines agency.
The first batch of 50,000 doses was transferred to Algeria from Russia on Thursday, the 10th of a previously announced by the North African government. A cargo of 50,000 doses of AstraZeneca arrived Monday.
Mansouri said Algeria and Russia were in advanced talks about Sputnik V and that the vaccination would be done at the government-owned SAIDAL facility.
Journalist Helio Fernandes, 100, will receive the AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccine in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Monday [Pilar Olivares/Reuters]
“It is time for Algeria, a country that imports vaccines, to be able to produce on-site to meet the needs of the vaccine campaign, and second-rate exports, “he said on national television on Tuesday.
A new study from Oxford University on the AstraZeneca vaccine, meanwhile, has shown that the drug has a 76 percent effectiveness against symptomatic disease for three months after just one dose.
The findings, published Tuesday and not peer-reviewed, supported Britain’s decision to extend the interval between starting and rising doses of the picture to 12 weeks, Oxford said Tuesday .
The AstraZeneca vaccine, which is cheap and easy to carry, is the backbone of the UK vaccine program as well as a key part of the WHO-led COVAX initiative.
But some countries have expressed concern about its effectiveness among elderly patients.
France’s main health advisory body agreed on Tuesday to use the vaccine, but said the picture should only be given to people under 65, responding to similar advice from experts in Italy, Austria, and the United Kingdom. Germany. Regulators there say there is not enough data to use it in older age groups.
“There is not enough data yet for people aged 65+. We hope to have them in the coming weeks, ”HAS chief Dominique Le Guludec told reporters.