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Several different vaccines may be needed to combat coronavirus infection, says scientist

According to the director of the Chumakov Federal Scientific Center for the Research and Development of Immune and Biological Products of the Russian Academy of Sciences, his center plans to finish pre-clinical tests of an anti-coronavirus vaccine by early August

MOSCOW, July 7. /TASS/. Several different anti-coronavirus vaccines may be needed as the infections has different impacts on different people, Aidar Ishmukhametov, director of the Chumakov Federal Scientific Center for the Research and Development of Immune and Biological Products of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said on Tuesday.

"Some people contract the disease for the second time, some have no neutralizing antibodies after being exposed to the coronavirus infection. It is quite probable that the panel of vaccines that are being developed now will be needed at a certain point and these vaccines will be used depending on the primary immune status, immunity, or age," he said.

According to Ishmukametov, his center plans to finish pre-clinical tests of an anti-coronavirus vaccine by early August. However mass production will be possible not earlier than January 2021 after clinical tests are over and demonstrate good results.

In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia.

On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 11,756,400 people have been infected worldwide and more than 541,000 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 6,753,100 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.

To date, 694,230 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 463,880 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 10,494 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.