Another promising vaccine result: Russian COVID-19 vaccine is 91.6 percent effective in study

Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine was 91.6 percent effective in an interim analysis of a phase 3 clinical trial published Tuesday.

The strong results from a clinical trial in Russia, published by the British medical journal The Lancet, indicate that another safe and effective vaccine is joining the world’s arsenal against the virus. On safety, no serious adverse reactions were reported from the vaccine.

There had been some skepticism given the….unusual process. Russia approved the vaccine in August before the phase 3 trials were complete. But two British scientists wrote in an accompanying article in The Lancet that despite the skepticism, the results appear strong now that the data is out.

“The development of the Sputnik V vaccine has been criticised for unseemly haste, corner cutting, and an absence of transparency,” wrote the British scientists Ian Jones and Polly Roy. “But the outcome reported here is clear and the scientific principle of vaccination is demonstrated, which means another vaccine can now join the fight to reduce the incidence of COVID-19.”