COVID-19: Russia's Health Ministry says Sputnik vaccine is over 90% effective

Russia's Sputnik COVID-19 vaccine is more than 90 per cent effective, a representative of the health ministry said on Monday.

The statement cited data collated from vaccinations of the public rather than from an ongoing trial.

The comments followed an announcement earlier on Monday by vaccine developers Pfizer Inc and BioNTech, who also said their experimental COVID-19 vaccine was more than 90 per cent 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 Russian Health Ministry, said.

"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 added.

Alexander Gintsburg, director of Moscow's Gamaleya Institute which developed the Russian vaccine candidate, said he welcomed the Pfizer news.

"In the near future we expect to publish interim results of the post-registration trial of the vaccine Sputnik V, the so-called Phase III trials. I am sure that its effectiveness level will also be high," he said.

Russia is gearing up to publish preliminary results of an ongoing large-scale human trial, known as Phase III, this month. It is testing the vaccine on 40,000 people in Moscow.