The Russian-developed Sputnik V vaccine has been found to be 91.6 per cent effective against COVID-19, according to a study published in the medical journal The Lancet on Tuesday.
The peer-reviewed result comes from a phase-3 clinical trial conducted in the Russian capital Moscow by the Gamaleya Institute, the body that developed the vaccine.
For the study, 19,866 volunteers were given either two doses of the Sputnik V vaccine or a placebo.
A total of 16 people in the vaccine group went on to develop COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the Coronavirus.
In the placebo group, this figure stands at 62.
The results were published days after Russia offered the European Union doses of Sputnik V amid shortages of other vaccines in the bloc.
Sputnik V could however only be used in the EU if it is approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which is pending.
According to the manufacturer, Sputnik V has been approved in 15 countries around the world, including Hungary, which became the first EU member to approve it last week.
The vaccine’s active ingredient was the first in the world to be released for widespread use in mid-August, although the fact that key testing had not been completed at the time-triggered international criticism.
dpa
