Belarus' vaccine said to stimulate immune response as effectively as foreign COVID-19 vaccines

“The Belarusian vaccine prototype has already been created. It is undergoing laboratory testing and preliminary preclinical trials using small animals. It has been established that the vaccine is safe, well tolerated and does not cause side effects. I would like to note that the Belarusian vaccine stimulates the production of antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus not worse than foreign vaccines,” Vladimir Gusakov said.

The production of a pilot batch of the vaccine will be followed by the in-depth preclinical trials in 2022. “After the completion of preclinical trials, we will move on to the clinical stage. The clinical trials will comprehensively assess the safety and effectiveness of the so-called humoral and cellular immune response. Then the vaccine will be available for public use,” the chairman of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences said.

“Given that new variants keep emerging, the vaccine will be adapted to those of them that will be circulating at the time of the vaccine production. The production technology allows constantly upgrading the vaccine to deal with viral mutations,” Vladimir Gusakov noted.

The work on the vaccine is carried out by a dedicated team of leading experts in virology, immunology, genetics and cell engineering. The work is done in collaboration with the National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Healthcare Ministry and the Institute of Biophysics and Cell Engineering of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus.