MOSCOW, March 3. /TASS/. Vaccination against the novel coronavirus of 25% Russians over two months or 30% of the population by the end of May will help prevent another wave of the pandemic, the head of the Federal Biomedical Agency, Veronika Skvortsova, said on Wednesday.

"If for modelling the situation we assume that the vaccine is 94% effective, just as its producers say, and the post-vaccination immunity lasts for no less than six months, then we will see that to avoid a third wave we are to vaccinate either 25% of the country’s population over a period of no more than two months, or to extend the vaccination campaign till the end of May and vaccinate the people systematically to achieve a 30% rate," Skvortsova said on the Rossiya-24 round-the-clock television news channel.

If post-vaccination immunity lasts longer, for instance 18 months, then the number of those vaccinated may be less, while the third wave of the pandemic will be prevented anyway.

"The third wave will be inevitable. It is bound to follow approximately starting from May. The peak will be observed in October, but the existence of effective vaccines changes the situation," she added.

To date, 4,278,750 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 3,853,734 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 87,348 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.