MOSCOW, March 12. /TASS/. It takes people inoculated with Russia’s EpiVacCorona coronavirus vaccine 42 days to develop immunity, head of the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing Anna Popova told TASS.

According to her, EpiVacCorona produces "quite strong and effective immunity" but works "rather slowly." "It takes people 40 to 42 days to develop immunity. It is a thing to remember, and the same goes for all vaccines," Popova noted. Vaccinated people should not consider themselves safe until 42 days after the first injection, provided they get the second vaccine shot on the 21st day, she added.

The watchdog chief went on to say that over 20,000 people in Russia had been inoculated with the vaccine and no side effects had been recorded, apart from soreness at the injection site. Popova noted that EpiVacCorona was suitable for elderly people and allergy patients.

On July 24, Russia’s State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology Vector center received permission from the Russian Health Ministry to conduct clinical trials of its coronavirus vaccine on volunteers. That phase of trials completed on September 30 and the vaccine was registered in mid-October. The Health Ministry granted permission to the center on November 16 to conduct post-registration trials on 150 volunteers over the age of 60, and permission to carry out trials on 3,000 volunteers aged over 18 was issued on November 18.