MOSCOW (Reuters) – A candidate COVID-19 vaccine, known as EpiVacCorona, the second in Russia to be registered, was a 100% effective process in early stages, Russian consumer health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor told local media said.
The data, based on Phase I and II trials, were announced before the start of a larger Phase III trial, which would normally involve thousands of participants and a placebo group as a comparison.
“The effectiveness of the vaccine consists of its immunological efficacy and preventive efficacy,” the TASS news agency reported, referring to Rospotrebnadzor.
“According to the results of the first and second phase of clinical trials, the immunological efficacy of the EpiVacCorona vaccine is 100%.”
The Phase I and II studies tested the safety, side effects and immunogenicity of the potential vaccine in 100 people aged 18-60 years, according to the State Trial Register.
In the early stages, vaccination tests on humans are based on blood readings that show an immune response in participants who have not been exposed to the virus, while the results of larger late-stage trials are based on actual infections that participants suffer in their normal lives.
Russia began testing EpiVacCorona, developed by Siberia’s Vector Institute, in November.
Earlier that month, Moscow said its other approved vaccine, Sputnik V, was 92% effective in protecting people against COVID-19 based on interim results.
Russia has said it could vaccinate 60% of its population against COVID-19 this year, and although the Sputnik V vaccine is readily available in Moscow, its spread across the country is slow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered mass vaccinations to begin this week.
EpiVacCorona will be used in mass vaccinations from March, Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova told the Interfax news agency.
Russia reported 3,612,800 cases of coronavirus, the world’s fourth highest total. His death toll due to the virus stands at 66,623.
(Report by Maria Kiselyova and Polina Ivanova; written by Alexander Marrow; edited by Kate Kelland, Jason Neely and David Evans)