GORKI, February 1. /TASS/. Foreign vaccines against the novel coronavirus may become available in Russia, but only if they are recognized safe and effective. In any case, domestic products will enjoy priority, Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev told Russian mass media in an interview.

"As far as foreign vaccines are concerned, we have not had any offers yet, because each country wishes to meet its own domestic needs and to vaccinate its own population. This is absolutely normal. We take the same stance," Medvedev said. At the same time, he remarked that "some initiatives have been put forward already, for instance, China has made such proposals." He promised that all such proposals "will be closely studied and analyzed."

"If this or that vaccine is recognized effective and safe, it can appear on our market," Medvedev said. "But the main task today is to manufacture Russian vaccines and to achieve the required parameters [in terms of the number of doses made]".

He recalled that three vaccines against the novel coronavirus were at different stages of readiness - Sputnik V, EpiVacCorona and the vaccine from the Chumakov Center, which applied for the registration of its product just recently. "All of them are different from the standpoint of their biological components and the means of triggering immunity," Medvedev said, adding that the vaccine from the Chumakov Center was the most classic of all and used the same principles as all other vaccines created over the past 200 years."

"Our vaccines have been tested and recognized safe. They must be used and this is the emphasis that we make," Medvedev stated.

He underscored the task of arranging for the production of several million doses of each vaccine a month. "There is a target of making 30 million doses of Sputnik V by the middle of the year. The production target for EpiVacCorona is significant, too, which is yet to be raised. The same is true of the third vaccine," Medvedev said.