MOSCOW, February 20. /TASS/. The Vector State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology plans to manufacture 500,000 doses of the EpiVacCorona vaccine in February and 1.5 million doses in March, the center’s Director General Rinat Maksyutov said on Saturday.

"In February, we plan to manufacture 500,000 doses of the vaccine, reaching 1.5 million doses in March with a subsequent increase to 5 million doses per month," he told the Rossiya 24 TV channel.

Maksyutov explained that the vaccine was manufactured by both the Vector center and two industrial partners.

On July 24, 2020, the Vector research center received the Russian Health Ministry’s permit to conduct clinical trials of its vaccine on volunteers. They were completed on September 30. On October 14, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the vaccine developed by Vector had received a registration certificate. On November 16, the Health Ministry issued a permit for post-registration trials of the vaccine on 150 volunteers over the age of 60, and a permit for trials on 3,000 volunteers over 18 years old was issued on November 18.