Russia's Sputnik V vaccine 91.6 percent effective against symptomatic COVID-19 in interim analysis

Russia's Sputnik V vaccine has been found in an interim analysis to be 91.6 percent effective against symptomatic COVID-19.

The interim phase 3 trial analysis for Russia's vaccine was confirmed in a peer review from the medical journal The Lancet, which showed that it provided full protection against moderate and severe COVID-19 cases, the Financial Times reports.

This COVID-19 vaccine, which requires two doses, was already approved by authorities in Russia in August 2020, even though it hadn't yet undergone large clinical trials, The Wall Street Journal notes. In The Lancet, virology professors Ian Jones and Polly Roy addressed the criticism of this quick process that lacked "transparency."

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"The development of the Sputnik V vaccine has been criticized for unseemly haste, corner cutting, and an absence of transparency," they wrote. "But the outcome reported here is clear and the scientific principle of vaccination is demonstrated, which means another vaccine can now join the fight to reduce the incidence of COVID-19."

The Financial Times notes this would mean there are now three COVID-19 vaccines globally with a confirmed efficacy rate of more than 90 percent, after Pfizer's and Moderna's. According to CNN, the Sputnik vaccine has already been administered to over 2 million people globally.