Russia claims its vaccine is also 90 per cent effective hours after Pfizer announcement

Russia has claimed that its Sputnik V vaccine against Covid-19 is more than 90 per cent effective, hours after news broke of the success of the latest trial by American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. Pfizer's Phase 3 clinical trial began on July 27 and has enrolled 43,538 participants to date, 38,955 of whom have received a second dose of the vaccine candidate as of November 8, 2020. Pfizer announced on Monday November 9 that the Phase 3 trial indicated a vaccine efficacy rate above 90 per cent, at 7 days after the second dose. This means that protection is achieved 28 days after the initiation of the vaccination, which consists of a 2-dose schedule. Later that day, a representative of the Russian health ministry, citing data collated from vaccinations of the public rather than from an ongoing trial, said its own vaccine was just as effective. "We are responsible for monitoring the effectiveness of the Sputnik V vaccine among citizens who have received it as part of the mass vaccination programme," Oksana Drapkina, director of a research institute under the health ministry, said in a statement. "Based on our observations, its effectiveness is also more than 90 per cent. The appearance of another effective vaccine - this is good news for everyone," Drapkina said.