SPUTNIK VACCINE OVER 91 PER CENT EFFECTIVE

In the first publicly available test results for Russia's already widely distributed vaccine, Sputnik V, it was shown to be 91.6 per cent effective against the coronavirus in Phase 3 trials, according to peer-reviewed results published in the Lancet, a British medical journal.

The findings make Sputnik only the third vaccine to have an efficacy of over 90 per cent after a vaccine from U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, produced with German biotech firm BioNTech, and one from U.S. biotech firm Moderna.

Almost 20,000 participants took part in the trial, with roughly three-quarters receiving the vaccine, while the remainder received a placebo. It marks the first large-scale, peer-reviewed results showing the efficacy of Sputnik V, which is already in use in Russia and several other nations.

The trial included over 2,000 volunteers who were over 60 years old.