PETROZAVODSK, January 25. /TASS/. Russia’s Gamaleya Center plans to finish the first and the second phases of clinical trials of its combined coronavirus vaccine by March, Denis Logunov, the Center’s deputy director, said on Tuesday.
Logunov said earlier that the Gamaleya Center was looking at an option of developing a polyvalent coronavirus vaccine based on several strains, for instance, Delta and Omicron.
"Now <…> we have decided to develop a combined vaccine and hope to finish the first and second phase of clinical tests within the next couple of months, by March, to prove the vaccine’s potency and safety," he said.
According to Logunov, there are also plans to conduct clinical tests of a variant of the Sputnik V vaccine adapted against the Omicron strain. "So far, a vaccine for the Omicron strain has been developed and, according to the procedure, we will soon begin clinical tests to analyze the potency and efficacy of this new vaccine strain," he said.
He criticized the activities of the World Health Organization (WHO) concerning new coronavirus strains. "The WHO is behaving utterly unsatisfactory - there have been no clear recommendations concerning preventive measures in respect of either of the coronavirus variants of concern. It has been delegated to each national regulator and to vaccine developers," he added.