Moscow, April 8 (Sputnik): Just one day will be enough to update Russia’s EpiVacCorona vaccine to ensure protection against new mutations of the coronavirus, Rinat Maksyutov, the director of the Vector research center that developed the vaccine, said in an interview with Sputnik.
“If the virus suddenly mutates, and a mutation occurs in the areas where we selected peptides, if we need to update the vaccine, then it will take no more than one day to upgrade vaccine composition,” Maksyutov said.
Vector’s director clarified that developing peptides and releasing a vaccine takes time, apart from that, research must be conducted for the updated vaccine.
“I hope that it will be possible to conduct just an abbreviated study as we do with seasonal influenza vaccines when new strains appear, but, since there have been no precedents with a coronavirus vaccine so far, it is difficult to say anything for sure, everything will depend on the regulator,” Maksyutov explained. (UNI)