On Thursday, February 4, 1996 Nobel Prize winner in Physiology and Medicine, Peter C. Doherty, emphasized the efficacy of the Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19. He also confirmed that the possible dose adjustments in light of new variants of the virus would not cause problems for their creators.
Speaking with the Russian news agency TASS, Doherty emphasized the use of viral vectors in the manufacture of the drug developed by the Gamaleya center.
“The effectiveness of the Sputnik V vaccine – more than 90% – looks very good, and in addition, Russia has a long history of developing good vaccines. The strategy for using two adenovirus vectors makes sense and is, as I understand it, used in Sputnik. Of course, if the virus changes significantly as a result of the mutation, the vaccine makers will have to ‘correct’ the drug a bit, but it won’t be difficult.”Said the specialist.
According to an interim analysis of phase 3 clinical trials, published Tuesday February 2 in the medical journal The Lancet, the Russian vaccine Sputnik V against the coronavirus has an overall efficacy of 91.6%.
The publication indicates that these studies included 21,977 adults, who were randomly assigned to the vaccine group (16,501 people) and the placebo group (5,746) between September 7 and November 24, 2020. A total of 19,866 volunteers received the two doses required for immunization, and among them only 78 cases of COVID-19 were confirmed.