Reputed Medical Journal Clarifies on the Safety of 'Ready to Launch' Russian Vaccine - Report

A research paper published in The Lancet Friday confirmed that patients who were involved in the early tests of a Russian coronavirus vaccine have developed antibodies with “no serious adverse events”. 

Russia had launched its vaccine named Sputnik V. Since the vaccine received approval within two months of trials, it raised concerns among many western scientists. 

Russian researchers who published their research in Lancet study had reported on two small trials. Each group had around 38 healthy adults who were between the age groups of 18 to 60. They were prescribed a two- part dosage. 

Every individual had to take the second dosage, 21 days after the first dosage was administered to them. The report states that the vaccine is safe, it was well tolerated and does not cause adverse impact among healthy adult volunteers. 

Researchers revealed that larger and longer trials are the need of the hour to determine if the vaccine is safe in long term. 

According to the report, “76 participants of these trials would be monitored up to 180 days, adding that a more rigorous phase 3 clinical trial was planned with the involvement of 40,000 volunteers from different age and risk groups.”

Naor Bar-Zeev of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who was not involved in the study expressed that the study was effective but however, it was small. The study needs to be held among people who are particularly vulnerable. 

"Showing safety will be crucial with Covid-19 vaccines, not only for vaccine acceptance but also for trust in vaccination broadly," he said. 

"Since vaccines are given to healthy people and, during the COVID-19 pandemic, potentially to everyone after approval following phase 3 trials, safety is paramount,” he added.