Vietnam to have locally-made COVID-19 vaccine in August

A volunteer is given the NANO COVAX vaccine during a human trial in Vietnam

By Phong Lan
Deputy Head of the World News Desk
Dantri Online Newspaper  

HANOI: A Made-in-Vietnam COVID-19 vaccine is expected to be officially available this August, according to a local medical official.

Major-General Nguyen Xuan Kien, head of the Military Medical Department, told a press conference in Hanoi on April 9 that besides the COVID-19 testing kits, military doctors have successfully produced the NANO COVAX vaccine which is the nation’s first locally-produced novel coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine.

“The Military Medical University has actively joined in the production of the NANO COVAX,” he said. “The vaccine is now in the second stage of human trials and we are preparing for the third stage in which the trial will be launched in May.”

NANO COVAX’s second stage of human trials which was carried out in February and March saw the participation of 560 volunteers, including 80 individuals over the age of 60.

Each volunteer received two doses of either the vaccine or the placebo AIPO4, with an interval of 28 days between them.

After the injection, the volunteers exhibited symptoms such as light fever, injection site pain, muscle aches, joint pain and fatigue, which did not require medical intervention. They are now in stable conditions.

According to Lieutenant General Do Quyet, director of the Military Medical University, results of the second trial are set to be announced in May before preparing for the third stage of trials, during which only one single shot of the vaccine will be administered to between 10,000 and 15,000 people from both domestic and foreign pandemic-hit regions.

The initial stage of trials of the NANO COVAX vaccine indicates that it is likely to be effective against the B117 variant from the UK. The next focuses on seeking antibodies against the UK and South Africa variants,

The official said that it is expected that the vaccine will be officially used from August.

Vietnam hopes to have its NANO COVAX vaccine ready for rollout in August

Besides NANO COVAX, Vietnam is also developing three other COVID-19 vaccines including IVAC from the Institute of Vaccines and Medical Biologicals, VABIOTECH from the Company for Vaccine and Biological Production No 1, and POLYVAC from the Centre for Research and Production of Vaccines and Biologicals.