20 People Caught COVID-19 after Russia's First Sputnik V Vaccine Inoculation

The world is moving closer and closer to mass vaccinations against COVID-19, and Russia was one of the first nations to officially register its vaccine, Sputnik V.

The Russian news agency, Tass, reports that approximately 20 people who had been administered the first round of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine caught COVID-19. 

One of the vaccine trial's organizers, Vadim Tarasov, spoke at the Tass-organized news conference on Monday, stating the news about the 20 infected people.

However, Tarasov also stated that it's still too early to link these infections directly to the vaccine as the infected people would not have had sufficient time to build up immunity against the coronavirus, stated Tass.

SEE ALSO: 19,000 PEOPLE ALREADY ADMINISTERED SPUTNIK V, RUSSIAN COVID-19 VACCINE

Tarasov, who is the Director of the Sechenov University’s Institute for Translational Medicine and Biotechnology, explained at the press conference that, "Now we can say that we have only about two dozen cases when people got infected with COVID and this is associated with the vaccine, yet again, to say that they were inoculated and got sick with COVID is also incorrect."

He also stated that the majority of these infected people had not yet had their second inoculation of the vaccine, which is when the efficiency rate jumps up from 90% to 92% as Euronews explains.

Previously, it was claimed that the vaccine had a 95% efficiency after the two doses were given.

#NameTheVaccine @TheLastLeg 92% based on data from 20 people (wow 1/20=5%) for Russian Sputnik V verses 44,000 people for the Pfizer vaccine. The main side effects are known and not severe, most drugs approved with less than 1,000 people. COVID 19 can damage your (Nans) health

— MouseDoctor (@prof_mouse) November 13, 2020

Typically, those inoculated with Sputnik V build up stronger immunity after Day 42, following a second jab. 

"The vaccine itself cannot infect with COVID. The antigens used in it which elicit reactions of an immune response, do not cause COVID," he emphasized.

Adding to this, Tarasov explained, "Nothing bad will happen (from the inoculation) because the infection takes on a mild course, one shouldn’t expect complications or side effects. Nothing serious will happen, most likely, he won’t even notice that he has COVID."

Stay informed about vaccines in general, how they work and why we take them, with information shared on the World Health Organization's (WHO) website.