One of the advantages of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V is that it does not require ultra-low temperatures during storage and transportation, unlike some other drugs, while demonstrating high efficacy
This opinion was expressed in response to TASS correspondent’s questions by specialists from three American universities.
Dean Winslow, an infectious disease specialist at Stanford University Medical Centre, believes that the drug will play an important role in combating the pandemic in the world. As he stated, commenting on an article about the Sputnik V vaccine in The Lancet, “in phase three trials, its efficacy appears to have been 91.6”.
“This is slightly less than the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, their efficacy is around 95%”, – said the expert.
He added that “because it is a DNA vaccine, it does not require storage and transport at ultra-low temperatures like RNA vaccines.”
Daniel Kurickis, head of infectious diseases at Harvard University Medical School, said: “From what I’ve read about the vaccine, my understanding is that it can be stored at temperatures that a normal refrigerator can maintain.”
“This, of course, is a big advantage as it allows the vaccine to be delivered to countries where there is much less ability to provide ultra-low temperature storage. This means it is much easier to administer in some countries”, – he stressed.
Roger MacArthur, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Georgia at Augusta, said, referring to the vaccine not requiring ultra-low temperature storage during transport, “This is certainly an advantage, particularly in terms of getting it to places where it is unlikely to achieve very low temperatures.”
“But I think what matters most in a vaccine is efficiency and safety”, – the specialist added.
MacArthur, commenting on a publication in The Lancet about the vaccine, said: ‘It looks very promising. It’s terrific news.”
“It’s a very interesting technology. A different approach to the one used in the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which also uses an adenovirus vector, or the Oxford University vaccine. It uses the chimpanzee adenovirus as the vector”, – the specialist added.
Kurickis said of Sputnik V: “The level of protection provided by this vaccine is comparable to that of Pfizer and Moderna, and is slightly higher than that of AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, according to preliminary data. Of course, it is difficult to compare data from different studies. The infectious disease specialist stressed that the demonstrated efficacy of the Sputnik V vaccine suggests that it is among the drugs that will potentially help “end the coronavirus pandemic”.
Winslow believes that further trials could be conducted to further build confidence in the vaccine.
“I believe there should be a Phase 4 trial comparing the efficacy of Sputnik V with the two RNA vaccines”, – he said.
The Stanford University specialist, referring to the article in The Lancet, also stressed that “this is the oldest medical journal in the West”, although there have been known cases where publications posted in it “have had to be withdrawn”.