MOSCOW, May 20. /TASS/: As many as 47 coronavirus vaccines are in the works in Russia, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said, addressing the Federation Council (the upper house of parliament) on Wednesday.
"Detecting the coronavirus infection is an important aspect of these activities. A total of 47 vaccines are in the works on 14 platforms. We do expect that some of them will produce tangible results," she said. Golikova added that 3.1 bln rubles ($43 mln) had been allocated from the federal budget for the development of coronavirus testing systems and vaccines.
Director of Russia’s Gamaleya Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology Alexander Gintsburg said earlier that a coronavirus vaccine could be registered in Russia in August. According to him, pre-clinical trials are expected to last for about another month. These trials are aimed at figuring out vaccine toxicity and reactogenicity, as well as other properties, based on which human trials can be launched.
Coronavirus pandemic
In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia.
On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 4,990,400 people have been infected worldwide and more than 324,900 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 1,961,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.
To date, a total of 308,705 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 85,392 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 2,927 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.
