Vietnam’s home-grown COVID-19 vaccine proves effective in three countries

Vietnam’s second home-grown COVID-19 vaccine – COVIVAC produced by the Institute of Vaccines and Medical Biologicals (Photo: Vietnamplus)

Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam’s second home-grown COVID-19 vaccine, COVIVAC, produced by the Institute of Vaccines and Medical Biologicals has showed promising results against the original virus and new variants of SAR-CoV-2 in Vietnam, India, and the US, according to a pre-clinical trial study.

Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long stressed at a ceremony to receive 20 billion VND from Vingroup to fund the research of the clinicial trial of COVIVAC on the morning of February 27.

Accelerating production of “Made in Vietnam” vaccine

Addressing the event, Minister Long said the health sector always considers vaccine development a key issue. The Health Ministry will work with other units to study and develop vaccine to proactively supply COVID-19 vaccine domestically.

“At present, all COVID-19 vaccines globally are effective from six months to one year. In particular, in the current context, the  virus that causes COVID-19 appears with different strains, so the vaccine effectiveness is only for a certain time.”

Therefore, apart from importing vaccines, the Ministry of Health always promotes the initiative of researching and producing vaccines at home to ensure long-term protection,” Ministser Long said.

Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long at the event (Photo: Vietnamplus)

According to Minister Nguyen Thanh Long, the signing of the cooperation agreement is a meaningful activity, helping speed up the pre-clinical trial of the "Made in Vietnam" COVID-19 vaccine. Since then, Vietnam has more opportunities for a complete and comprehensive scientific evaluation to affirm the feasibility of COVIVAC vaccine.

Minister Nguyen Thanh Long expressed his belief that the health sector will achieve significant outcomes in vaccine research to prevent the pandemic so Vietnam will soon be self-sufficient in vaccine sources. He added it is also gratitude from doctors and healthcare workers to the trust of the Party, Government and people in carrying out the mission of protecting, caring for and improving life quality of people's health on the occasion of the Vietnam Doctors' Day, February 27.

In order to join hands to prevent and control the epidemics as well as protecting people's health, Vingroup has decided to gift the Institute of Vaccines and Medical Biologicals 20 billion VND to finance research and clinical trials of COVIVAC vaccine.

COVIVAC vaccine research and trial project of the Institute of Vaccines and Medical Biologicals (IVAC) under the Ministry of Health has been studied since May 2020 in collaboration with universities, research institutes and international organizations.

Price of COVIVAC vaccine not exceed 2.6 USD/ dose

According to IVAC,  Covivac is a liquid vaccine with or without adjuvants, without preservatives, with the production technology of Newcastle vector vaccine, based on production technology on chicken eggs with embryos. This technology is also used to produce seasonal flu vaccines in Vietnam.

Dr. Duong Huu Thai, IVAC Director (Photo: Vietnamplus)

Each dose of COVIVAC vaccine cost not more than 60,000 VND (about 2.6 USD). The vaccine protects people from new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus found in the UK and South Africa.

The results of the pre-clinical studies in India, the US and Vietnam have shown both safety and efficacy. After seven months of research (from May to December last year), IVAC has successfully produced three consecutive batches on a large scale, with 50,000-100,000 doses per batch.

The vaccine batches for clinical trials have been assessed for quality by the manufacturers and the National Institute for Control of Vaccines and Biologicals, which has certified six batches of finished vaccines. COVIVAC has also undergone preclinical tests for toxicity, immune response, and protective effects on domestic and foreign laboratory animals.

IVAC planed to start the clinical trial in March and finish in October this year.

(Photo: Vietnamplus)

In the near future, Vietnam will start clinical trials on the third made-in-Vietnam vaccine produced by the Company for Vaccine and Biological Production No. 1 (VABIOTECH)./.