The Moderna and Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccines have edged out the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in terms of effectiveness against the disease. According to a large-scale study conducted by Hungarian researchers into the success of five COVID-19 vaccines, the Moderna vaccine was 88.7 percent effective against infection and 93.6 percent effective against Covid-related mortality. Furthermore, Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine achieved 85.7 percent effectiveness against the illness and 95.4 percent in terms of mortality due to the virus.

On the other hand, the Pfizer vaccine was ranked third with 83.3 percent and 90.6 percent efficacy respectively.

The results of the study were published on Wednesday on the website of the medical journal Clinical Microbiology and Infection. In the study, the researchers reviewed the efficacy of five COVID-19 vaccines for at least seven days after the participants received their second dose. In addition, the researchers reviewed the data from more than 3.7 million people aged 16 and above vaccinated between January to June of this year.

Authors of the study include Hungary’s minister in-charge of healthcare, Miklos Kasler, and chief medical officer, Cecilia Muller.

“The wide range of vaccines available in Hungary allows for the assessment of vaccine effectiveness in a real-world setting in a Central European country and puts Hungary in the unique position of providing detailed information on multiple vaccine types from the same country,” authors wrote in the paper.

The study highlighted that the Pfizer vaccine was administered the most (1.5 million people), followed by China’s Sinopharm vaccine at 895,465, Russia’s Sputnik V at 820,560, AstraZeneca at 304,138 and Moderna at 222,892. In addition, Pfizer vaccine and China’s Sinopharm were administered the most to people aged 65 and above while Sputnik V had the lowest administration share.

Furthermore, the AstraZeneca vaccine showcased 71.5 percent effectiveness against the COVID-19 disease and 74.5 percent against pandemic-related death. Sinopharm vaccine was 68.7 percent effective against infection and 87.8 percent against death.

The study revealed both AstraZeneca and Sinopharm vaccines showed less than 50 percent efficacy against COVID-19 infection in people aged 85 and older. On the other hand, Sputnik had 90.9 percent, Moderna had 84.1 percent, and Pfizer had 74.3 percent effectiveness against COVID-19 among people aged 85 and above.

Earlier this year, Hungary witnessed one of the world's highest Covid-related deaths per capita.