The Ministry of Health has granted permanent registration to the Convasel COVID-19 vaccine.

Following the results of phase three clinical trials, the Russian Ministry of HEALTH has issued a permanent registration certificate for the Convasel CORONAVIRUS vaccine. This was reported by the press service of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency (FMBA), which developed the drug.

"The Russian Ministry of Health has issued a permanent registration certificate for the subunit recombinant vaccine 'Convasel' for the prevention of coronavirus infection caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus," the organization reported.

They clarified that the drug had successfully completed phase III clinical trials, which confirmed its safety and effectiveness when administered once at a dosage of 0.5 ml.

Vaccine effectiveness againstcovid-19 was 85.2%, and among volunteers over 60 years old - 91.7%.

"Currently, more than 265,000 people have been vaccinated, and less than 1% of them have fallen ill," said Veronika Skvortsova, HEAD of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency of RUSSIA.

The drug is produced by the St. Petersburg Research Institute of Vaccines and Serums of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency.

The Federal Medical and Biological Agency (FMBA) submitted an application to the Ministry of Health to register the Convasel vaccine in January 2022. Three months later, the agency registered it for the first time.

A registration certificate is required to confirm the compliance of a medical product with federal standards. It has an unlimited validity period. However, drugs and medications being registered in Russia for the first time cannot receive it for more than five years.

Convasel is a subunit recombinant vaccine administered intramuscularly. Subunit vaccines use only the parts (subunits) of the virus that the immune system needs to recognize. They do not use another, safer virus as a "vehicle" to deliver the subunits.

Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in 2019, seven vaccines against this infection have been registered in Russia. In addition to Convasel, these include Sputnik M, Sputnik V, and Sputnik Light from the Gamaleya Center, EpiVacCorona and EpiVacCorona-N from the Vector Center, and CoviVac from the Chumakov Center. Production of CoviVac and EpiVacCorona has been suspended.