Russian COVID Vaccine ‘Sputnik’ Triggers Immune Response: Lancet

New Delhi: Going by the results from the early-stage clinical trials of Sputnik, the Russia registered world’s first COVID-19 vaccine, there is hope. The trials show that formulations of a two-part vaccine have a good safety profile with no serious adverse events detected over 42 days.

The results were published in ‘The Lancet’. The trials also confirmed that the vaccine induces antibody responses in all participants within 21 days, reported The New Indian Express (TNIE).

The Russian government is keen to get the vaccine tried in India as part of the phase 3 trial. It also wants Indian manufacturers to mass-produce the vaccine.

Limitations in the research

• It had a short follow-up of 42 days
• It was a small study
• Some parts of the phase 1 trials included only male volunteers
• There was no control vaccine
• It included fairly young volunteers in their 20s and 30s

TNIE quoted researchers as saying that more research is needed to evaluate the vaccine in different populations, including older age groups, individuals with underlying medical conditions, and people in at-risk groups.