Not long ago, the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced that its vaccine was 90% effective in preventing Covid-19 infections in phase trials 3. In response, Russia released a statement claiming 92% efficacy of its Sputnik V vaccine.
On November 9, 2020, Pfizer and BioNTech discussed their vaccine against the current coronavirus. According to officials, it would be 90% effective to prevent Covid-19 infections. On the other hand, there is talk of preliminary results from large-scale phase 3 trials that are still ongoing. The two companies wish to submit an emergency use authorization request to the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) for availability in December 2020. In a statement posted on the official Sputnik V vaccine platform on November 11, 2020, Russia launched a counterattack. Mikhail Murasko, Russian Minister of Health, estimates that the Sputnik V vaccine is 92% effective , more than the Pfizer vaccine.
“Vaccine use and clinical trial results demonstrate it is an effective solution to stopping the spread of coronavirus infection , a preventive health care tool, and it is the most fruitful way to defeat the pandemic" said Mikhail Murasko.
The fact is that like Pfizer, Russia did not publish accurate results about his vaccine. In both cases, it is a question of press releases, the information of which must be subject to precautions. Russia has indeed unveiled some intermediate results of phase III of the clinical trial. Currently, no less than 40,000 volunteers are taking part in this double-blind trial in countries such as Belarus, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela. By contrast, only 16,000 have ever received two doses of vaccine at three-week intervals.
The "92%" effectiveness of the Sputnik V vaccine comes from measurements on around 20 confirmed cases of Covid-19. These measurements were taken 21 days after the first injection, compared to volunteers who received a placebo. In the case of the Pfizer vaccine, there are 43,538 participants of which 38,955 followed the protocol vaccination until completion. The analysis of the efficacy of the vaccine concerns 94 Covid-19 patients and one week after the second injection.
In a publication from the Science Media Center (UK), Prof. Stephen Evans from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine explained an important point. The interested party believes that the low number of cases testifying to the effectiveness of the Sputnik V vaccine is a source of uncertainty. According to him, this data must be tracked because the current results would be more consistent with an efficiency of only 60%. Thus, the effectiveness put forward by Pfizer seems more reliable than that of the Russian vaccine. Stephen Evans thinks that the effectiveness of this vaccine will be certainly greater than 80% . This would be explained by a greater number of cases in which the effectiveness was measured.
Nevertheless, the Russian vaccine would have a rather interesting advantage. Indeed, it is based on two modified adenoviruses . This is a more robust vaccine technology than that of Pfizer. Indeed, the Sputnik V vaccine will not need to be stored at -80°C. Be that as it may, Russia did not wait for the final results to begin its distribution within its borders. No less than 10,000 volunteers, people at risk and health personnel have already received their vaccine. About 50 countries have also shown interest by placing orders for a total of approximately 1.2 billion doses.
