Vietnamese firm packages Russia's Sputnik V vaccine

The company, which functions under the Ministry of Health, has packaged around 30,000 doses.

The process involves seven major steps, starting with cleaning and drying vaccine vials to remove all contaminants.

The vials are then filled with the vaccine solution flown from Russia to Vietnam and transported to Vabiotech in refrigerated trucks.

The vials' caps have two layers: one made of rubber and the other of aluminum.

Technicians perform final checks on the vaccine vials before they are labeled.

Each vial contains 3 ml of vaccine, enough for five doses.

After labeling, the vaccine vials are gradually frozen from -2 to -23 degrees Celsius. The freezing process stops once the temperature reaches -23 degrees.

The vials will be packaged one more time before being transported into cold storage of 2-8 degrees Celsius.

Vabiotech chairman Do Tuan Dat said Thursday that the evaluation in Russia would demonstrate if the company’s production chain meet all requirements to make Sputnik V in the country.

Each finished box will contain five vaccine vials. Following quality evaluation in Russia, Vabiotech will sign a contract to become a Sputnik V manufacturing and packaging unit. Distribution rights would be retained by the Russian manufacturer.

Vabiotech has proposed to the Russian manufacturer that the company be allowed to use the finished products in Vietnam.

A section of the cold storage room for the Sputnik V vaccine.

When the contract is signed, Vabiotech will be able to produce up to seven million vaccine doses a month.

While Vabiotech will use the vaccine solution imported from Russia at first, it would gradually move to the next stage of tech transfer that will allow it to produce the Sputnik V vaccine entirely in Vietnam.