Gamaleya Center can develop COVID-19 vaccine based on several strains

Russia’s Gamaleya National Research Center considers the possibility to develop polyvalent vaccines against a new coronavirus infection on the basis of various strains such as Delta and Omicron, deputy director of the Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Denis Logunov said.

"[The possibility] is being considered and discussed to develop such a polyvalent Sputnik [vaccine] which includes Delta, Omicron and Wuhan variants (Wuhan strain, the original strain of coronavirus). <...> It is possible to develop such a more complex vaccine," he said in an interview with Rossiya-1 TV channel.

Logunov specified that a part of the vaccine based on the Wuhan or Delta strain will be able to protect against infection with new coronavirus variants, and the other part based on Omicron will protect those vaccinated from the virus that have already mutated from Omicron.

Speaking of further development of the situation, he noted that due to the Omicron strain the number of new coronavirus cases will be very on the rise. "It is too early to relax until this wave of Omicron subsides," Logunov concluded.