More than 30 countries agreed to buy and use Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine after the Lancet journal showed the vaccine to offer protection against COVID-19 with 92% efficacy

Early this week, we wrote about Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine after scientists showed that the vaccine is 92% effective in fighting COVID-19. Scientists said the vaccine is “deemed to be safe – and offer complete protection against hospitalization and death.” The results were based on data from 19,866 volunteers.

The Russian Sputnik V vaccine, which was developed by the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology in Moscow, offers 92% protection against Covid-19, according to the late-stage trial results published in The Lancet. Unlike Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, the Russian vaccine uses an adenovirus to deliver components of the pathogen that causes covid-19. The approach is similar to one being advanced by Oxford University and AstraZeneca.

Now, Bloomberg is reporting that countries are lining for supplies of Sputnik V vaccine following the peer-reviewed results published in The Lancet medical journal this week that showed the Russian vaccine protects against the deadly virus about as well as U.S. and European shots, and far more effectively than Chinese rivals. Bloomberg wrote:

“At least 20 countries have approved the inoculation for use, including European Union member-state Hungary, while key markets such as Brazil and India are close to authorizing it. Now Russia is setting its sights on the prized EU market as the bloc struggles with its vaccination program amid supply shortages.”

Bloomberg added:

“In the global battle to defeat a pandemic that’s claimed 2.3MM lives in little more than a year, the race to obtain vaccines has assumed geopolitical significance as governments seek to emerge from the huge social and economic damage caused by lockdowns imposed to limit the spread of the virus. That’s giving Russia an edge as one of a handful of countries where scientists have produced an effective defense.”

Source: Public announcement by officials from Russia, other countries

Back in August 2020, we wrote about Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine after the Russian scientists said they have completed the clinical trials of a vaccine against covid-19. The phase clinical trials of the Russian vaccine were completed in less than two months and phase three trials were set to begin shortly.

Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly said that one of his daughters had been vaccinated against the coronavirus, saying, “In this sense, she took part in the experiment.” Putin said on Tuesday that Russia had become the first country to grant regulatory approval to a COVID-19 vaccine after less than two months of human testing, a move Moscow likened to its success in the Cold War-era space race.