Vials of Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine. — XINHUA/VNA Photo

MOSCOW — A factory producing Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 will be built in Việt Nam within one year and is expected to produce 30-40 million doses annually, Chairman of Russian pharmaceutical company Binnopharm Dmitry Zubov told Vietnam News Agency correspondents in Russia.

Earlier this month, Binnopharm and the Russian Direct Investment Fund signed a memorandum of understanding with Việt Nam’s T&T Group on the transfer of production technology and the formation of a facility with full cycle production capacity of Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine along with other pharmaceutical products in Việt Nam.

According to Zubov, one year for construction is feasible, as Binnopharm has just built another factory in Belarus in eight months.

He said this will be a multi-purpose and closed-cycle factory using advanced German equipment. It can produce other vaccines as well.

The short-term goal right now is to send Russian experts to Việt Nam to complete a pre-feasibility report, identify the ideal location for the factory, and then the two would sign an agreement on the construction of the factory.

The Binnopharm chairman said the construction of the factory will go in tandem with training human resources to make sure the operations can run smoothly once the facilities are finished.

The capacity of the factory built in Việt Nam will of course be decided by the Vietnamese side depending on the domestic demands, however, the output is initially supposed to be 30-40 million doses a year, he stressed.

He considers this an important basis for Russia to strengthen cooperation with Việt Nam on pharmaceuticals, thereby entering the Southeast Asian market. — VNS