5th January, 2021
The Russian Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine Sputnik V was thoroughly tried, within a mechanism that was later picked up by major producers of foreign vaccines, Alexander Gintsburg, the head of the Gamaleya Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, said on Tuesday.
Gintsburg disclosed this in an interview with Sputnik in Moscow.
Sputnik V was the world’s first coronavirus vaccine officially registered for emergency use on Aug. 11.
Clinical trials ended in November, with the efficacy level established at 91.4 per cent.
“Our vaccine has been tested more than enough. Mind that both Moderna and AstraZeneca followed our path,” Gintsburg said.
According to the official, the human adenovirus-based vaccine has already been given to over 1 million people, with 100,000 doses added up to the civil use stockpile daily.
Gintsburg said the vaccination was being constantly monitored by Russia’s federal health watchdog, Roszdravnadzor, and the Ministry of Health and that neither had so far detected any adverse reactions in those vaccinated.
AstraZeneca, whose vaccine is built on a chimpanzee adenovirus and has shown an average efficacy of 70.4 per cent, announced teaming up with the Gamaleya Institute in December, requesting to use one of its human adenoviral vectors to enhance the vaccine’s efficacy.
Moderna’s vaccine is based on genetic material called mRNA, which is a less researched technology.
Interim results of its clinical trials established the efficacy at 94.1 per cent.