Effective Against Omicron And Its Subvariants, Russia Will Trial Convasel Vaccine For Elderly 60 Years And Over

Illustrasi vaksinasi COVID-19. (Wikimedia Commons/Government Spokesperson)

JAKARTA - The Russian Federal Agency for Medical Biology (FMBA) plans to start clinical trials of a new anti-coronavirus vaccine, Convasel, targeting elderly people (elderly) 60 years and over this year.

"Taking into account the past experience of such research work and successful pre-clinical and clinical trials, the FMBA is considering the opportunity to launch the Convasel clinical trial for people aged 60 and older in 2022," FMBA Head Veronika Skvortsova told TASS.

Previously, Skvortsova said the Convasel anti-coronavirus vaccine was equally effective against almost all variants, including Omicron and its subvariants.

"Most of the epitopes in the N-proteins of the different SARS-CoV-2 strains are identical. One can expect an identical immune response whenever a person vaccinated with Convasel encounters one of the actively evolving SARS-CoV-2 strains: Omicron and Omicron BA.2 subtype - Stealth Omicron," he explained.

The Convasel anti-coronavirus vaccine was developed by the Federal Medical-Biological Agency's Vaccine and Serum Research Institute, a St. Petersburg, and was registered with the Russian Ministry of Health on March 18.

The vaccine is an emulsion for intramuscular injection. The volume of one dose is 0.5 ml. Previously, Skvortsova said the vaccine did not trigger allergies.

Mass production of the vaccine was launched by the institute on April 5. According to Skvortsova's earlier statement, the institute can produce up to two million doses of the vaccine per month.

To note, the Convasel vaccine can be used to revaccinate patients who previously received Sputnik V, EpiVacCorona, and CoviVac.