Russian COVID Vaccine Administered to 7 Million... Developer Claims "Effective for All Age Groups"

[Asia Economy Reporter Ji Yeon-jin] Claims have emerged that the Russian-made novel coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine 'Sputnik V' shows the same level of effectiveness across all age groups.

According to TASS news agency on the 13th (local time), Alexander Gintsburg, director of the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology under the Russian Ministry of Health, made this claim during an interview with the local YouTube channel 'Solovyov Live.' The Gamaleya Center is the research institute that developed the Sputnik V vaccine in August last year.

Director Gintsburg said, "Since the immune system of the elderly is relatively less active, there was initially suspicion that the vaccine might be less effective for people over 60 years old," but "such a thing did not happen." This means that the Sputnik V vaccine is effective even for the elderly.

Gintsburg explained that more than 7 million people have been vaccinated with the Sputnik V vaccine so far, combining both Russians and foreign recipients of the vaccine. He also added, "I believe that about 60 to 70% of Russians will receive COVID-19 vaccination by November this year."

Although the Sputnik V vaccine was the first in the world to be approved by Russia in August last year, it was authorized based only on phase 1 and 2 trial results before the usual phase 3 clinical trials. This led to controversy over the vaccine's efficacy and safety. However, evaluations have turned positive since early last month when phase 3 results showing a 91.6% preventive effect were published in the world-renowned medical journal 'The Lancet.'

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.