MOSCOW, July 23. /TASS/. The production of a coronavirus vaccine may begin in Russia before the end of the year, Federation Council (the upper house of parliament) Chairperson Valentina Matviyenko said at Thursday’s press conference wrapping up the parliament’s spring session.

"Russians will have the opportunity to get vaccinated before the end of the year," she pointed out. "We definitely are the first country to announce clinically-tested vaccines, which is a very important thing," Matviyenko added.

She pointed out that Russia was ready to cooperate with other countries. "If we start production, we will definitely share [the vaccine] with other countries," the Russian senate speaker noted. "Some tried to accuse us of meddling and carrying out cyber attacks to steal vaccines from others. We don’t need to steal anything because our own potential is strong," Matviyenko stressed.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said, presenting a report to the State Duma (the lower house of parliament) on Wednesday, that four coronavirus vaccines had proved to be safe. Trials of two vaccines developed by the Gamaleya Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology are at the final stage. Clinical trials took place at the Sechenov University Hospital and the Burdenko Main Military Clinic Hospital.

Coronavirus pandemic

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 15,382,800 people have been infected worldwide and more than 630,300 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 9,357,600 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.

To date, 795,038 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 580,330 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 12,892 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.