Russia Developing Combo Flu/COVID-19 Vaccine

Russia is developing a single vaccine capable of preventing both influenza and COVID-19, with the new shot likely to be in big demand and motivate more people to get immunized, Mikhail Schelkanov, the director of the Somov Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, told Sputnik

VLADIVOSTOK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 03rd September, 2021) Russia is developing a single vaccine capable of preventing both influenza and COVID-19, with the new shot likely to be in big demand and motivate more people to get immunized, Mikhail Schelkanov, the director of the Somov Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, told Sputnik.

"If we create a multicomponent single-dose vaccine, this will significantly increase the chances of drawing people to mass vaccination," Schelkanov said on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.

On Thursday, Russian Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov told Sputnik that the preliminary results of the work on the combo vaccine may come by the end of the year. In April, Sergey Chemezov, the CEO of Russian state technology corporation Rostec, said that the company was set to develop its own single-dose COVID-19 vaccine, which would also be effective against influenza.