First Sputnik V vaccine batch successfully produced in Vietnam
Hanoi (VNA) – The Health Ministry’s Company
for Vaccine and Biological Production No.1 (Vabiotech) announced on
September 24 that it has successfully produced the first batch of Sputnik V
vaccine in Vietnam.
The batch coded SV-030721M
was tested on August 26 by the Gamaleya
Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology - developer of the Sputnik V vaccine, and met quality requirements.
Vabiotech President Do Tuan Dat said the company will import semi-finished Sputnik V vaccine this month to pack them, thus helping Vietnam become
self-sufficient in Sputnik V vaccine supply.
The vaccine makes
use of heterogeneous boosting, meaning that it employs two different vectors
over the course of the two shots, which the developer claims to provide
longer immunity than ones that use the same delivery mechanism. The gap
between two shots is three weeks.
According to the
clinical test result announced on “The Lancet” magazine, Sputnik V’s efficacy
amounts to 91.6 percent. After injection, 98 percent of volunteers produce antibodies
against the virus.
The Vietnamese
Health Ministry granted conditional approval of Sputnik V for emergency use on
March 23. Later on July 21, Vabiotech officially announced the production of
Sputnik V vaccine on a trial basis.
Dat added that
Vabiotech is also pushing forward the registration of Sputnik Light vaccine
that only needs one shot./.