Mass COVID-19 vaccination in Russia planned for October: health minister

The vaccination against the coronavirus is planned to be free of charge, Murashko said.

MOSCOW, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Russian Health Ministry is planning a mass vaccination campaign against the coronavirus for October, TASS news agency reported on Saturday, citing Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko.

"We plan wider vaccination for October because we need to launch a new system of treatment gradually," Murashko said.

The vaccination against the coronavirus is planned to be free of charge, he added.

According to the minister, clinical trials of a coronavirus vaccine developed by the Gamaleya Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology were over.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said in late July that he was hopeful that Russia will produce a reliable vaccine against COVID-19 by the fall.

Russia registered 5,462 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking its total to 845,443, the country's COVID-19 response center said in a statement on Saturday. ■