...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...is more than 90 percent effective, a health ministry official said on Monday.
The announcement came after US pharmaceutical company Pfizer and German biotechnology company BioNTech announced that their own experimental vaccine was more than 90 percent effective.
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"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 in a statement.
"Based on our observations, it is also more than 90 percent. The appearance of another effective vaccine - this is good news for everyone," Drapkina said.
The COVID-19 virus has infected over 50 million people and claimed the lives of more than 1.2 million. And tens of thousands more deaths are feared in the coming months, with the onset of cold weather and the holidays.
Pfizer and BioNTech, are now is on track to apply later this month for emergency-use approval from the US Food and Drug Administration, once it has the necessary safety information in hand.