Russia’s CoviVac more than 80% effective against COVID-19

MOSCOW: Russia’s third vaccine against COVID-19, CoviVac, is more than 80% effective according to preliminary data, the Interfax news agency cited the vaccine’s developer as saying on Wednesday.

The Chumakov Centre could produce six times more than the previously planned 10 million doses of the vaccine a year, Interfax added.

It may be noted that Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine was 91.6% effective in preventing people from developing COVID-19, according to peer-reviewed results from its late-stage clinical trial published in The Lancent international medical journal on Tuesday.

Scientists said the Phase III trial results meant the world had another effective weapon to fight the deadly pandemic and justified to some extent Moscow’s decision to roll out the vaccine before final data had been released.

The results, collated by the Gamaleya Institute in Moscow that developed and tested the vaccine, were in line with efficacy data reported at earlier stages of the trial, which has been running in Moscow since September.