Local COVID-19 vaccine Covivac proves effective against virus
VOV.VN - Vietnamese scientists are set to conduct the second phase of a human clinical trial of locally produced COVID-19 vaccine Covivac in August following encouraging results in the first phase.
Initial evaluation shows that Covivac has produced good results and is expected to become a vaccine for COVID-19 prevention in Vietnam, said Dr Duong Huu Thai, director of the Institute of Vaccines and Biological Medical (Ivac) that produces Covivac.
Thai said that after the second shot, all 120 volunteers involved in phase 1 were in stable health condition. Only a few had mild side-effects such as pain and swelling in the injection area, while no one had severe reactions.
The research team has made a report and sent it to an independent monitoring unit in Thailand for safety analysis and statistics, with the final results expected to come out in late July.
For immunogenicity, all blood samples from 120 volunteers have been sent to an international control unit for testing, and the results will be then transferred to a monitoring unit in Thailand for analysis.
“According to our initial evaluation, the Covivac vaccine is safe and it produces immunity that provides good protection against the virus,” stressed Thai.
Ivac researchers are now putting the final touches to the second phase of the human clinical trial of the vaccine which is anticipated to begin in late July or early August at the latest and last until September.
In August they will work on a draft plan for the third and final phase of the trial and hope this phase will be carried out soon this year.
“If all goes well as planned, we expect to have a vaccine product to be approved for emergency use in Vietnam by the end of 2021 or early 2022,” said Dr. Thai.
Providing the vaccine is approved for emergency use by the Ministry of Health, Thai revealed that Ivac is capable of producing between 20-30 million doses a month and it will increase its capacity to meet local demand in case of a widespread outbreak in Vietnam.
Covivac is the second locally produced COVID-19 vaccine that has been approved by the Ministry of Health for human testing.
The first vaccine, Nano Covax developed by Nanogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology JSC, is entering the third phase of its human clinical trial.
