100 elderly join locally-made vaccine clinical trial

Over 100 elderly people in Vietnam have participated in the second stage of the trial of a made-in-Vietnam Covid-19 vaccine.

Over 100 elderly people in Vietnam have participated in the second stage of the trial of a made-in-Vietnam Covid-19 vaccine.

  

100 elderly people volunteer for Covid-19 trials

A total of 560 volunteers joined the clinical trial of Nanocovax. 105 of them are over 60 years old. The oldest volunteer is 76 years old. There are also several people with underlying conditions.

Chu Van Men, director of the Centre for Clinical Trials and Bioequivalence under the Vietnam Military Medical Academy, said all of the volunteers had been given the first shot. Most reactions from the volunteers, including the elderly, are common including tiredness, soreness around the shot area and fever.

"Everyone was in good health and returned home," he said. "We expanded the pool of volunteers to better assess the vaccine. There are people with light health problems like high blood pressure and diabetes."

The second shot of the second stage will be given 28 days later.

The volunteers will have their blood samples taken for tests and evaluations after 28 days, 35 days, 42 days, two months and six months after the first shot.

Men said the volunteers' immune response and optimal dose level will be assessed 35 days after the first shot (7 days after the second shot).

"We'll then report to the National Ethics Committee in Biomedical Research, Ministry of Health for approval before starting the third stage with only one optimal dose level," he said.