Russia May Roll Out 3rd Indigenous COVID-19 Vaccine In March - Developer

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKIY (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th January, 2021) KAMCHATSKIY, Russia, January 17 (Sputnik) - The coronavirus vaccine developed by the Chumakov research center of the Russian academy of Sciences may be rolled out for civilian circulation in March, Development Director Konstantin Chernov told the Rossiya 1 channel.

The Chumakov center is currently completing phase 2 clinical trial for its inactivated vaccine. The Russian public health watchdog said earlier in the week that the vaccine is expected to receive an authorization in the coming days.

"Ours [vaccine] is to be expected to enter civil circulation, probably around March," Chernov said.

According to the scientist, the new vaccine will be "the most comprehensive".

"Over 50 different proteins have so far been detected in the virus. When we present an organism with the entire spectrum of everything that is there, we expect that our protection will be more comprehensive," he explained.

Russia has so far registered two homegrown COVID-19 vaccines � Sputnik V, developed by the Moscow-based Gamaleya Institute, and EpiVacCorona, created by Siberian research center Vector. In December, the country launched a large-scale coronavirus vaccination.