Its efficacy may be even higher since the research did not take into account the time lapse between the actual infection and the diagnosis of the disease.
The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) on Monday announced that the Sputnik V vaccine has demonstrated 97.6 percent efficacy during the vaccination campaign that has already reached 3.8 million Russians.
RDIF Director Kiril Dmitriev explained that the vaccine’s efficacy is higher than the 91.6 percent initially announced by The Lancet. This means that the Russian drug offers one of the best rates of protection against the coronavirus.
The estimates are based on data from people vaccinated by the Health Ministry and covid-19 patients detected by the Unified State Health Information System.
Between Dec. 5, 2020, and March 31, 2021, the infection rate of persons vaccinated with both doses of Sputnik V was only 0.027 percent. In contrast, the infection rate among the unvaccinated adult population was 1.1 percent.
Gamaleya Center Director Alexander Gintsburg indicated that the actual efficacy of the vaccine may be even higher since the research did not take into account the time lapse between the actual infection and the diagnosis of the disease.
RDIF said that the results of this study will be published in a specialized medical journal next May. So far, Sputnik V has been registered in 60 countries.
Russia plans to produce 88 million COVID-19 vaccines in the first half of 2021. Of that amount, 83 million would correspond to Sputnik V.