Japanese firm to transfer Covid vaccine production tech to Vietnam

Nguyen Ngo Quang, deputy head of the Administration of Science, Technology and Training under the Ministry of Health, said Vabiotech and Advanced International JSC (AIC) have signed a contract with Japanese firm Shionogi & Company Ltd. to transfer technologies to produce recombinant Covid-19 vaccines.

The technology has been utilized by Shionogi to produce a Japanese Covid-19 vaccine, according to Japanese broadcaster NHK. It is used to create spike proteins of the coronavirus to facilitate immune responses in the human body.

A Shionogi representative earlier this month said the firm's Covid-19 vaccine could be Japan's first domestic one to be produced. If approved, the firm could produce around 120 million doses a year. The vaccine is still undergoing clinical trials, Japan Times reported.

Vietnam has secured deals for 130 million doses of vaccines so far and is in talks with other manufacturers on deals for a further 40 million shots, health minister Nguyen Thanh Long said Sunday, adding the shots are expected to arrive in 2021 and early 2022.

Around 4.7 million Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered in Vietnam, though only around 423,000 people have received two shots.

Vietnam aims to vaccinate 70 percent of its 96 million population by next year.