MOSCOW, May 28. /TASS/. The share of Moscow residents with coronavirus antibodies is too small to count on herd immunity, which indicates once again that a vaccine is necessary, says Vladimir Chekhonin, vice president of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

"Measurements conducted in Moscow revealed that 12% to 12.5% of residents in this area have [coronavirus] antibodies in their blood. This, of course, is not enough to develop a herd immunity," Chekhonin said.

The scientist underscored that this proves the importance of a vaccine that would be able to "provide a pool of people with required immunity basis to develop an immunity against the coronavirus."

On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 5,807,100 people have been infected worldwide and more than 357,800 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 2,510,300 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.

To date, a total of 379,051 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 150,993 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 4,142 fatalities nationwide.