Argentine Health Ministry Study Confirms Safety of Russia's Sputnik V COVID Vaccine

BUENOS AIRES (Sputnik) - A study by Argentina's Health Ministry confirms the safety of Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, a spokesman for the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said.

"New data from Argentina's Ministry of Health confirm the highest safety of the Sputnik V vaccine," the spokesman said.

"Cases of serious adverse effects requiring hospitalization are extremely rare (only 0.0027% of cases)," he said.

Earlier, the Argentine Health Ministry published a study according to which the number of severe side effects from Sputnik V out of the total number of vaccines administered (about 7 million doses) is 0.0027%, and mild reactions - 0.5%. According to statistics, the most frequent reactions to the vaccine were headache, pain in muscles and joints (15,278 cases), as well as fever with headache and pain in muscles and joints (14,397 cases).

In this photo released by the press office of the Argentine presidency, President Alberto Fernández receives the first dose of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 at Posadas Hospital in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Thursday, January 21 of 2021.

© AP Photo / Esteban Collazo

Sputnik V, developed by Russia's Gamaleya Institute, is the main medication used by the Argentine authorities to immunize the population against coronavirus.

The vaccine is now approved in 67 countries with a total population of over 3.4 billion people. The vaccine efficacy was 97.6% based on the analysis of data of 3.8 million vaccinated Russians, which is higher than the data published earlier by medical journal The Lancet (91.6%), according to RDIF and the Gamaleya Institute.

With the recent authorization in Brazil, Sputnik V is now in 67 countries. pic.twitter.com/LcY6W6l5BC

— Sputnik V (@sputnikvaccine) June 5, 2021