MOSCOW, February 8. /TASS/. Russia’s CoviVac coronavirus vaccine is about 62% effective against the Omicron variant, according to preliminary data, Director of the Chumakov Federal Scientific Center for Research Aidar Ishmukhametov told the Rossiya-24 TV channel on Tuesday.

"According to our data, it is about 62%, but this is <...> preliminary data that would relate to lab-based, preclinical research," he said in response to a question.

Ishmukhametov earlier told TASS that the Chumakov center would carry out a study to determine CoviVac’s effectiveness against Omicron.

He pointed out that the jab was effective against all the known coronavirus mutations and suggested that Omicron would be no exception.