Putin claims COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V has 95% efficacy, terms it 'safe and efficient'

Russian President Vladimir Putin on December 16 said that the world’s first coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V has at least 95 percent efficacy, adding that Russia has given the world good, safe, and efficient vaccine products. In a state press conference shared by Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) on Twitter, the Russian President thanked the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) for producing the vaccine against the novel coronavirus. The Russian leader cited the health experts, saying, that the shot hits 96-97 percent efficacy in one dose as it is administered into the patient’s body. 

“Russia has been the first country in the world, which has invented and started to produce the COVID19 vaccine. And we have a good vaccine, safe and efficient - over 95 percent - and specialists say its protection level reaches 96-97 percent,” Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) quoted President Putin as saying in a tweet.

This week, the Sputnik V vaccine confirmed in a release that it reached the efficacy of 91.4 percent based on the final control point analysis of data which was obtained 21 days after the shot was administered. It added, that against the severe cases of coronavirus, the Sputnik V vaccine efficacy was 100 percent. “20 severe cases were recorded in the placebo group, while no severe cases were recorded in the vaccine group,” the vaccine group confirmed in the release. 

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To produce 1 billion doses

The head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund Kirill Dmitriev earlier said in a press conference that the vaccine will be priced significantly lower than the other candidates, adding, that Russia will produce more than 1 billion doses. Head of the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Alexander Gintsburg, meanwhile, said that the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine is unlikely to offer protection longer than five months, while Sputnik V which is created on the platform also used for the Ebola vaccine, provides longer safety, Gintsburg told the Soloviev Live channel according to TASS.  Gintsburg iterated that Sputnik V has recorded 96 percent efficacy, which exceeded 95 percent on the 42nd day after the first dose was administered.

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