Deputy Minister of Heath Tran Van Thuan (second from right) inspects the vaccination of COVIVAC on a volunteer (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Six out of 120 volunteers have been injected with Vietnam’s second
homegrown candidate vaccine COVIVAC, as began at the Hanoi Medical
University on March 15.
Expressing his
delight at the event, Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan said the
ministry will send working delegations to monitor related research and the outcomes
of the trial’s first phase, to ensure the safety of volunteers.
The 120 healthy volunteers
in the first phase have been divided into five groups, including one to receive
placebo shots, and will have their health monitored closely for 24 hours after
injections.
Each volunteer
will have their health checked eight times over a period of 12 months.
Following the six
injected on March 15, the remainders will take turns being inoculated until
April 20. All volunteers will receive their second shots 28 days after the
first.
A report on the
outcomes of the first phase is expected to be completed in July. If the vaccine
meets standards on safety and effectiveness, the second phase will be carried
out at the medical centre in Thai Binh province’s Vu Thu district with a larger
number of volunteers.
Developed by the
Institute of Vaccines and Medical Biologicals (IVAC) since last May, is
the result of cooperation between IVAC and a number of partners, including the
Hanoi Medical University, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New
York City, the University of Texas in Austin, and the US-based health organisation
PATH.
Using primary
chicken embryo cell culture – a technique the institute used previously to
successfully produce seasonal flu vaccines – it is the second Made-in-Vietnam
candidate vaccine tested on humans.
The Nanogen
Pharmaceutical Biotechnology Company earlier completed the first phase of human
trials of its NanoCovax vaccine and began the second phase on February 26./.
Source: VietnamPlus
