Retrospective Cohort Study of the Effectiveness of the Sputnik V and EpiVacCorona Vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant in Moscow (June–July 2021)

Abstract

The goal of this study was to evaluate the epidemiological effectiveness of the Sputnik V and EpiVacCorona vaccines against COVID-19. This work is a retrospective cohort study of COVID-19 patients. The cohort created by the Moscow Health Department included more than 300,000 infected people who sought medical care in June and July 2021. Analysis of data revealed a tendency for the increase in the Sputnik V vaccine effectiveness (VE) as the severity of the disease increased. Protection was the lowest for mild disease, and it was more pronounced for severe disease. We also observed a decrease in VE with increasing age. For the youngest group (18–50 years old), the estimated VE in preventing death in June 2021 was 95% (95% CI 64–100), and for the older group (50+ years old), it was 74% (95% CI 67–87). The estimated protection against a severe form of the disease in the 18–50-year-old group was above 81% (CI 95% 72–93), and in the 50+ years-old group, it was above 68% (CI 95% 65–82). According to our analysis, EpiVacCorona proved to be an ineffective vaccine and therefore cannot protect against COVID-19.