ST.PETERSBURG, February 17. /TASS/. Russia’s leading manufacturer and influenza vaccine producer, the St. Petersburg Scientific Research Institute of Vaccines and Serums of the Federal Medical-Biological Agency, plans to increase supplies of a flu vaccine to the Latin American countries to 6.5 mln doses per year in 2021, its Director Viktor Trukhin told TASS.

"Last year, the St. Petersburg Scientific Research Institute of Vaccines and Serums supplied 990,000 doses to the Republic of Nicaragua, 592,200 doses to the Republic of Cuba and 3 mln doses of the influenza vaccine to the Republic of Venezuela. This year we are planning to boost this volume by 2 mln more doses," Trukhin said.

Currently, the research institute jointly with its subsidiary, Mechnikov Institute, a biotech scientific and production facility based in Nicaragua, is exporting to Latin America two influenza vaccines - Flu-M and VGIR. In particular, VGIR is registered in Guatemala and El Salvador and this effort on the Flu-M vaccine is underway.

"A registration certificate to the Republic of Venezuela and the Dominican Republic is due to be issued this year. Unfortunately, the pandemic situation in the region seriously affected the timeframe of registering our vaccine," the director said.

The St. Petersburg Scientific Research Institute of Vaccines and Serums of the Federal Medical-Biological Agency produces up to 30 mln doses of the influenza vaccine per year. This enterprise is the only biotech facility in Central America, which is built in accordance with the requirements of the World Health Organization and the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards.