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Coronavirus pandemic

Russia’s Chumakov Center gets permission for clinical tests of its coronavirus vaccine

The clinical trials are to be completed in November

© Sergei Bobylev/TASS

MOSCOW, September 22. /TASS/. The Chumakov Federal Scientific Center for Research and Development of Immune and Biological Products at the Russian Academy of Sciences received the Russian health ministry’s permit for clinical tests of its anti-coronavirus vaccine, the ministry’s press service said.

"Clinical trials of a vaccine against COVID-19 will begin soon in Kirov, St. Petersburg and Novosibirsk. About 3,000 volunteers are expected to take part, which is in line with the requirements of the World Health Organization and international watchdogs, and will provide a sufficient amount of scientific data for the research," the statement says.

The ministry said the volunteers will receive all the required information about the procedure and possible risks and inconveniencies that it might entail.

After the vaccination, participants will remain in isolation in hospitals for 16 days, where their health will be monitored by doctors.

"We expect to complete the clinical trials in November," the press service quoted Aidar Ishmukhametov, the Center’s director general, as saying.

The Chumakov Federal Scientific Center for Research and Development of Immune and Biological Products was created on the basis of the Institute of Poliomyelitis and Virus Encephalitis of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences. Academician of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences Mikhail Chumakov was the Institute’s founder and first director (until 1972).

Today the Chumakov Center is a leading world research organization in the sphere of medical virology.

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