Russian vaccine trial results given
Findings provided with bold claims of efficacy
MOSCOW — Russian scientists have belatedly published first results from early trials into the experimental Sputnik V vaccine, which received government approval last month but drew considerable criticism from experts, as the shots had been tested only on several dozen people before being more widely administered.
In a report published in the journal Lancet on Friday, developers of the vaccine said it appeared to be safe and to prompt an antibody response in all 40 people tested in the second phase of the study within three weeks. However, the authors noted that participants were followed for only 42 days, the study sample was small and there was no placebo or control vaccine used.
One part of the safety trial included only men, and the study mostly involved people in their 20s and
30s, so it is unclear how the vaccine might work in older populations most at risk of the more severe complications of COVID-19.
International experts remained cautious over the vaccine’s effectiveness and safety. Nevertheless, its Russian developers made some bold claims Friday after presenting the findings to reporters.
Professor Alexander Gintsburg,
director of the Moscow-based Gamaleya Institute that developed the vaccine with assistance from Russia’s Defense Ministry, told reporters that the vaccine triggers “sufficient” immune response “to counteract any imaginable dose infecting (a person) with COVID-19.”
“We are ready to assert that the protective effect of this vaccine will be detectable and remain at a proper level for two years or maybe even more,” Gintsburg said, without providing any evidence to back up the claim.
Both vaccines used a modified
version of the common-cold-causing adenovirus to carry genes for the spike protein in the coronavirus as a way to prime the body to react if a real virus causing COVID-19 comes along. That’s a similar technology to the vaccines being developed by China’s Cansino Biologics and Britain’s Oxford University and Astrazeneca.
Michael Head, a senior research fellow in global health at Britain’s University of Southampton, agreed that the Russian vaccine appeared to be “promising” but said further studies are needed.