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Coronavirus pandemic

Russian Academy of Science president sees vast global potential for CoviVac vaccine

The Chumakov Center’s inactivated whole-virion Covivac vaccine was registered with the Russian health ministry on February 19

MOSCOW, March 16. /TASS/. The Covivac coronavirus vaccine developed by the Russian Academy of Science’s Chumakov Center has a vast international potential as such vaccines are extensively use for a wide range of patients, President of the Russian Academy of Science Alexander Sergeyev told TASS on Tuesday.

"The Covivac vaccine has a really vast potential not only inside the country but also globally. The enormous global experience of the use of such inactivated whole-virion vaccines demonstrates that these are ‘mild’ vaccines that can be used for a wide range of patients. We have the vaccine and the task is to promote it," he said.

The Chumakov Center’s inactivated whole-virion Covivac vaccine was registered with the Russian health ministry on February 19. Whole-virion vaccines are based either on artificially weakened viruses incapable of causing a disease or killed (inactivated) viruses. It was Russia’s third vaccine certified for mass use. According to earlier reports, it is planned to manufacture ten million Covivac doses a year.

The Chumakov Federal Scientific Center for Research and Development of Immune and Biological Products was created on the basis of the Institute of Poliomyelitis and Virus Encephalitis of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences. Academician of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences Mikhail Chumakov was the Institute’s founder and first director (until 1972). Today the Chumakov Center is a leading world research organization in the sphere of medical virology. It has its own vaccine production vacilities.

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