MOSCOW, August 24. /TASS/. The Chumakov Center plans to double the production of the CoviVac whole-virion vaccine against the coronavirus to 2.5 mln doses per month in October 2021, Director General Aidar Ishmukhametov said in an interview aired by the Rossiya-24 TV news channel on Tuesday.

"We spoke for three months about the technical upgrade we expected, and finally, we received reactors two weeks ago. Two reactors mean a breakthrough for us, a principal modernization. We managed to install them properly. Basically, we will use them for the first time since the creation of the vaccine as early as the end of this week. We suggest that we will be able to plan at least a doubling of the production to 2.5 mln [doses of CoviVac vaccine] per month starting October. It will be clear at the end of September," he said.

The inactivated whole-virion CoviVac vaccine was developed by the Chumakov Federal Scientific Center for Research and Development of Immune-and-Biological Products of Russian Academy of Sciences (known as the Chumakov Center) 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.

Four coronavirus vaccines have been registered in Russia so far, including Sputnik V and Sputnik Light, developed by the Gamaleya Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, EpiVacCorona, created by the Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology Vector, and CoviVac, made by the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Chumakov Center. Sputnik V, EpiVacCorona, and CoviVac are two-dose vaccines, while Sputnik Light is a single-dose one.