Russia's EpiVacCorona Vaccine Expected to Grant Year-Long Immunity, Developer Says

Russian authorities officially registered the vaccine for further trials on 14 October 2020. So far, its immunological efficiency reached 100 percent, based on the results of the first and second stages of clinical trials, Russian consumer watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said.

The EpiVacCorona vaccine is expected to provide year-long immunity to COVID-19, acting deputy head of the Vector State Research Centre Tatiana Nepomnyashchih stated on Thursday. She also noted that Vector has concluded vaccine trials for the 60+ age group, saying there were no acute adverse effects.

The official also stated there were no incidences of coronavirus mutations undermining the efficiency of the vaccine.

Mass vaccination against COVID-19 in Russia

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"We are monitoring the strains that are circulating in Russia. This allows us to assess whether any mutations have occurred in those protein fragments for which, in fact, our vaccine causes the production of antibodies. We are continuously conducting such monitoring, and so far there are not any mutations that would affect effectiveness. [The vaccine] we have is designed for conservative sites [of the virus] ", she stated.

The medication, developed by the Vector State Research Centre of Virology and Biotechnology, is a peptide-based drug that relies on a promising synthetic platform. It consists of artificially synthesised short fragments of viral proteins - peptides, through which the immune system learns how to recognise and then neutralise the virus.