Russian Covid vaccine shows encouraging results

Early results from trials of a Covid vaccine developed in Russia suggest it could be 92% effective.

The data is based on 20 cases of COVID-19 from 16,000 volunteers given the Sputnik V vaccine or a dummy injection.

While some scientists welcomed the news, others said the data had been rushed out too early. It comes after Pfizer and BioNTech said their vaccine could prevent 90% of people getting Covid-19, based on a study of 43,500 people.

Although the Sputnik data is based on fewer people being vaccinated and fewer cases of Covid developing during the trial, it does confirm promising results from earlier research.

The Sputnik V vaccine, developed at the National Research Centre for Epidemiology and Microbiology in Moscow, is currently going through phase III clinical trials in Belarus, UAE, Venezuela and India.

So far there are no safety issues, with Russian researchers saying there were "no unexpected adverse events" 21 days after volunteers received their first of two injections.

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Source: BBC News, 11 November 2020