MOSCOW, October 16. /TASS/. Campaigns launched in Moscow against the coronavirus vaccination can largely be attributed to schemes of competitors seeking to enter the market with their own vaccine, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in an interview with TASS Friday.

"We are being vaccinated against flu, pneumococcus and [there are] dozens of other shots that our kids receive without any problems today. At the same time, a whole campaign emerged surrounding the coronavirus vaccination, alleging that it is scary, terrible and problematic. I think that a large part of this campaign is ordered by competitors who do not want their competitors to overtake them, seeking to produce their own vaccine and throw it into the market in the meantime. At least, this is the treatment of the Russian vaccine that we can see," Sobyanin noted. According to him, Moscow is observing a systemic campaign aimed at discrediting the vaccine.

The mayor recalled that he himself got a coronavirus jab. "I believe that this is an effective and high-quality vaccine. Another issue is that we can campaign for vaccination until the cows come home, but the Russian vaccine just like any other is not in mass production."

The mayor believes that complete victory over coronavirus in Moscow can only be achieved through mass vaccination, hoping to receive first large batches of the vaccine in late October-early November. "I hope that in late October-early November there will be the first more or less large batches of the vaccine coming. Meanwhile, at the end of the year we will already receive shipments that are necessary for mass vaccination. This will be a way out, a complete victory over the pandemic in the end. No infection could ever be successfully defeated in any other way, the only way is vaccination."

The post-registration clinical trials of the coronavirus vaccine were launched in Moscow on September 7, while first volunteers received their shots on September 9. The trial will help the vaccine to obtain a permanent registration and expand the groups of people who can get the vaccine, particularly covering those aged over 60. The trials will run for 180 days.

Doctors will track the health of the volunteers throughout the trials, while volunteers themselves will report about their condition using a specifically designed app.