Russia’s Health Minister Mikhail Murashko admitted today that 14% of Russians vaccinated with the COVID-19 drug Sputnik V showed side effects.
“More than 300 people were vaccinated. Approximately 14% of them complained of a little weakness, slight muscle aches throughout the day, and sometimes fever,” he told reporters, quoted by Russia’s TASS agency.
According to Murashko, these are predictable reactions, “just what is described in the instructions.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin revealed that one of his daughters was vaccinated, and is doing well, although he admitted that he had a fever for the first two days.
Russia has been the first country to announce the registration of a vaccine against COVID-19, although it has done so to the skepticism of the world scientific community and of many countries because the details of the clinical tests to verify its effectiveness have not been made public.
However, in early August, the British medical journal “The Lancet” published a study indicating that preliminary results of clinical trials of the vaccine had not produced adverse effects, while highlighting that the Sputnik V did generate antibodies to coronavirus.
Russia is recruiting 40,000 volunteers for the third phase of Sputnik V clinical analysis, the results of which will be known in October-November, after which the Russian vaccine would be supplied to the local and foreign population.