MOSCOW, May 5. /TASS/. More than 90% of people inoculated with the EpiVacCorona vaccine developed antibodies to COVID-19, Chief of the Russian State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology Vector’s zoonotic infections and influenza department Alexander Ryzhikov said in a video posted on the Instagram page of the national sanitary watchdog on Wednesday.

"Independent research shows that a large part of the population is actually responding to vaccination. Earlier, we announced figures related to volunteers. At the moment, we are carrying out random research among vaccinated groups and we can see that the rate is far above 90%," he pointed out.

The Vector center is also conducting phase one and two clinical trials of a three-step vaccination process involving EpiVacCorona, Ryzhikov went on to say. He explained that three-step EpiVacCorona vaccination was first tested on monkeys back in May 2020 and they are still under observation. Another group of animals, made up of ferrets and guinea pigs, had been vaccinated in that manner in late July. "Testing on the monkeys proved that immunity turns out to be stronger and more long-term," the researcher emphasized, adding that the EpiVacCorona composition remained the same throughout the three doses.

EpiVacCorona, developed by the Russian sanitary watchdog’s State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology Vector, is Russia’s second coronavirus vaccine. It was registered on October 14, 2020, and about a month later, its developers were granted permission to conduct post-registration trials, particularly among elderly people.