VIETNAM has approved Russia's Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine for use in emergencies in the country, becoming the second vaccine to be approved after AstraZeneca.
The approval comes after the Center for Research and Production of Vaccines and Biologicals (Polyvac) had proposed last month that the Health Ministry approve Sputnik V and the Moderna vaccine for emergency use.
According to a Vn Express report, the government was stepping up negotiations with vaccine manufacturers in the US, Russia and some other countries to ensure it could get a total 150 million doses to cover 70 per cent of its population this year.
The Sputnik V vaccine is given in two doses, three weeks apart, has to be stored at below 18 degree Celsius and has a six-month shelf life.
Moderna's mRNA-1273 vaccine is based on messenger RNA technology and uses synthetic genes that can be generated and manufactured in weeks.
It can be produced faster than conventional vaccines.
In early February, Vietnam's Health Ministry approved the vaccine made by AstraZeneca for inoculations in the country.
The first batch of 117,600 doses arrived in Ho Chi Minh City late last month and have been given to more than 36,000 frontliners like medical workers, contact tracers and officials on Covid-19 prevention and control committees.
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry said Vietnam expects to start producing its own Covid-19 vaccine by the end of the third quarter this year.
Currently, four Vietnamese vaccines are in development, produced by Nanogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology JSC, the Institute of Vaccines and Medical Biologicals (IVAC), Vaccine and Biological Production Company No. 1 (Vabiotech) and the Center for Research and Production of Vaccines and Biologicals (Polyvac).
A Vn Express report said Nanocovax by Nanogen has entered its second phase of human trials last month, while Covivac began its first phase earlier this month.
Nguyen Ngo Quang, deputy head of the Administration of Science, Technology and Training under the health ministry, said that in the first phase of human trials, Nanocovax has succeeded in producing large amounts of antibodies within volunteers and is proven effective against coronavirus variants.
At the end of April, a clinical report on the vaccine's second phase of human trials is expected, which he described as "very promising."
Nanocovax is expected to enter its third phase of human trials in May and could be completed by the end of the third quarter, three months earlier than scheduled.
The ministry said Covivac's pre-clinical report has also shown the vaccine has "very good quality" and its human trials are expected to be carried out faster than that for Nanocovax.
The Covid-19 vaccine by Vabiotech, is expected to begin human trials next month.