WHO reviewing Vietnam proposal to produce mRNA Covid-19 vaccines

By Reuters May 13, 2021 | 08:13 pm PT

Vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccine are pictured in a general practitioners practice in Berlin, Germany, April 10, 2021. Photo by Reuters/Fabrizio Bensch.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said it was reviewing a proposal by an unidentified vaccine manufacturer in Vietnam to become an mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccine technology hub in the country.

MRNA vaccines, like that developed jointly by BioNTech and Pfizer, prompt the human body to make a protein that is part of the virus, triggering an immune response.

"A vaccine manufacturer in Vietnam has already expressed its interest to become a mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccine technology transfer hub," Kidong Park, the WHO representative in Vietnam, said in an emailed statement to Reuters Wednesday.

The proposal was being reviewed by the WHO, said Park, who added that the organization expects Vietnam to also apply for "large scale manufacturing" of an mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccine.

Park did not say which vaccine manufacturer had expressed interest in the plans.

The WHO in April said it was seeking to expand the capacity of low and middle-income countries to produce and scale up the manufacturing of vaccines to help bring the pandemic under control.

"If Vietnam will host a mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccine technology transfer hub, it will contribute to mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccine production in Vietnam as well as in the region," Park told Reuters.