On Wednesday, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund said that Sputnik V vaccine is 92% effective against COVID-19 according to interim trial results.
Russia registered Sputnik V for public use in August, the first country to do so, though the approval came before the start of the large-scale trial in September.
The interim results are based on data from the first 16,000 trial participants to receive both shots of the two-dose vaccine, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which has been backing the vaccine and marketing it globally, said.
The RDIF said: the chances of contracting COVID-19 were 92% lower among people vaccinated with Sputnik V than those who received the placebo.
That’s well above the 50% effectiveness threshold for COVID-19 vaccines set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
RDIF head Kirill Dmitriev said: “We are showing, based on the data, that we have a very effective vaccine,” adding that it was the sort of news that the vaccine’s developers would talk about one day with their grandchildren.
