CoviVac to be recommended for booster immunization, expert says

MOSCOW. KAZINFORM Russia’s third anti-COVID-19 vaccine, CoviVac, which has a milder impact on the organism, can be used for booster immunization after the disease, Albert Rizvanov, director of the Center for Precision and Regenerative Medicine of the Kazan Federal University, told TASS on Saturday.

«The CoviVac vaccine, developed by the Chumakov Federal Scientific Center for Research and Development of Immune and Biological Products of the Russian Academy of Sciences, is better fit for secondary immunization because it helps develop a comprehensive immune response to all coronavirus proteins, not only to spike proteins, like in the case of Sputnik V, or to certain spike protein peptides, like in the case of EpiVacCorona. I.e. if a person has had the disease and needs to boost his or her immunity after a certain period of time, this vaccine, I think, would be preferable. It would help restore the organism’s ‘immune memory’ and boost immunity when it begins to lower in ten to twelve months,» he said, TASS reports.

Apart from that, in his words, CoviVac may be preferable for people with chronic diseases and senior citizens. «Risks of side effects for the elderly and patients with chronic diseases will be much lower,» Rizvanov stressed.

Earlier in the day, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said that one more anti-coronavirus vaccine, CoviVac, had been registered in Russia. The first 120,000 doses of the CoviVac vaccine, developed by the Chumakov Federal Scientific Center for Research and Development of Immune and Biological Products of the Russian Academy of Sciences, will be available for civil uses in mid-March. The vaccine is recommended for people aged from 18 to 60. The list of recommendations may be expanded after the second phase of clinical tests on volunteers older than 60 and those with chronic diseases.