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Coronavirus pandemic

Belarusian anti-coronavirus vaccine is of inactivated type — health ministry

According to Tarasenko, Belarusian scientists opted to create a "classical, whole-virion inactivated vaccine"

MINSK, May 8. /TASS/. Belarusian domestically-developed anti-coronavirus vaccine is of inactivated type, the country’s Health Ministry said on Friday.

"By now, we have obtained our candidate vaccine - the so-called in-vitro vaccine. This is an inactivated vaccine, in which the virus is guaranteed not to restore its pathogenic properties," the ministry’s press service quoted Deputy Health Minister Alexander Tarasenko, who is also the country’s chief sanitary doctor, as saying.

In his words, scientists plan to assess the new vaccine’s safety and effectiveness in vitro, and, subsequently, pre-clinical and clinical trials will be held.

According to Tarasenko, Belarusian scientists opted to create a "classical, whole-virion inactivated vaccine."

"This technology is well-tested and has been in use for more than a century. One of its main advantages is that the vaccine carries a full set of antigens needed for forming an immune response," the Belarusian chief sanitary doctor said.

The official added that another benefit of this type of vaccine was the opportunity to quickly adjust it to new strains of the virus.

"The technology allows adding various variants of the virus to the vaccine," he said.

At the same time, Tarasenko admitted that creating this type of vaccine takes longer than, for example, making a vector-based vaccine.

"Development and production technology includes work with highly pathogenic materials, which requires a high level of protection from biological hazards. The Republican Research and Practical Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology has the required facilities," he said.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced on Friday that the republic has developed its own anti-coronavirus vaccine.

On October 1, 2020, Belarus commenced immunizing volunteers with the Russian-made Sputnik V jab. Furthermore, Belarus has set up production of the Russian inoculation. In February, Belarus also procured 100,000 doses of China’s Sinopharm vaccines. By now, approximately 3.3% of the Belarusian population have been inoculated with the first component of an anti-COVID vaccine. Health Minister Dmitry Pinevich said his country was to obtain its own vaccine by August.

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According to the news agency Tasnim, when speaking about NATO eastward expansion, Mohammad Reza Ashtiani emphasized that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization member states should utilize the SCO potential in order to neutralize common threats

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US nukes in Poland to become target for Russia should confrontation with NATO occur — MFA

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