MOSCOW, April 7. /TASS/. The St. Petersburg Research Institute of Vaccines and Sera of the Federal Medical Biological Agency said on Tuesday its vaccine against the novel coronavirus infection has been included in the list of promising vaccines of the World Health Organization (WHO).

So far, this is the only Russian development on the WHO list, the institute’s press service told TASS.

"The World Health Organization (WHO) has put the first Russian development on its list of candidate vaccines against COVID-19. It is a vaccine developed by the St. Petersburg Research Institute of Vaccines and Sera of the Federal Medical Biological Agency. The vaccine is a recombinant protein on the basis of epitopes of the SARS-CoV-2 surface S-protein," it said.

WHO specialists compile a list of candidate vaccines on the basis of monitoring the world’s leading developments. In case a development is of interest, the WHO requests test results and takes a decision after their analysis.

Buy today, the vaccine developed by the St. Petersburg Research Institute of Vaccines and Sera has already been tested on animals. "The candidate vaccines have proved their ability to develop specific immune response to SARS CoV-2," the institute said.

The vaccine platform - recombinant proteins - has already been used in global healthcare practices. "It enhances chances for developing an efficient and safe vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and, what is even more important, of its serial production for mass immunization. The Federal Medical Biological Agency is taking effort to boost production facilities at its line in Kresnoye Selo," it added.