Vietnam's homegrown Covid-19 vaccine achieves 90 pct efficacy

Nanogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology JSC said the rate is based on comparisons between the immunogenicity results of those injected with two Nanocovax doses during the second phase of clinical research by Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City and recovered patients.

Ho Nhan, Nanogen’s chairman, said the firm has sent an urgent report on the matter to the Ministry of Health for approval.

The second phase of human trials for Nanocovax vaccine began on Feb. 26 with 560 people divided into four groups for the placebo injection and doses of 25, 50 and 75 micrograms.

Nanogen's report also presents a number of other analytical results that demonstrate the vaccine's ability to resist the novel coronavirus.

The vaccine was evaluated as "initially capable of neutralizing the Delta variant" by the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Nhan said.

Therefore, Nanogen requested the Ministry of Health to grant it an emergency license for its vaccine.

The ministry’s Ethical Evaluation Committee in Biomedical Research said Saturday that Nanocovax is "safe and able to elicit an immune response" but it has not assessed the vaccine's protection efficacy.

Le Van Truyen, chairman of the Advisory Council for the Registration of Circulation of Drugs and Medicinal Ingredients of the ministry, said the council would grant emergency approval for the vaccine as long as the all the study results are approved by the ethical committee.

If everything goes as planned, Vietnam would have its first domestic Covid-19 vaccine in the fourth quarter of this year.

The third human trial of the vaccine is being carried out on 13,000 in Hanoi, northern Hung Yen Province and two Mekong Delta’s provinces of Tien Giang and Long An.

Vietnam Military Medical University said Friday that by Thursday, 8,500 volunteers had received the second Nanocovax dose, with the research team to fully vaccinate the remaining 4,500 before Aug. 15.

The Health Ministry is continuing to consult with World Health Organization and South Korean experts on approving Nanocovax.

As of Aug. 6, Vietnam has received 19 million vaccine doses from different sources.

It has administered more than eight million of them, with 820,000 people getting both shots.

More than 10 percent of people aged over 18 have received at least one jab.