It is expected that a Made-in-Vietnam Covid-19 vaccine will be officially available this August, according to a local medical official.
A volunteer is given the Nano Covax vaccine during a human trial in Vietnam
Major-General Nguyen Xuan Kien, head of the Military Medical Department told a regular press conference in Hanoi on April 9 that military doctors have successfully produced the Covid-19 testing kits and the Nano Covax vaccine.
"The Military Medical University has actively joined in the production of the Nano Covax which is the nation’s first locally-produced novel coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccine," he said. "The vaccine is now in the second phase of human trials and we are preparing for the third phase in which the trial will be launched in May."
The official said that it is expected that the vaccine will be officially used from August.
Nano Covax's second phase of human trials which was carried out in February and March saw the participation of 560 volunteers aged between 12 and 75, 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 each dose.
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.
