Nanocovax vaccine.— VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam has researched and conducted clinical trials on five different COVID-19 vaccines: Nanocovax, COVIVAC, ARCT-154, COVID-19 HIPRA and S – 268019.

A report on the domestic production and the deployment of vaccinations against COVID-19 was sent to Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính on Thursday. In the report, the Ministry of Health said that, at the moment, the Nanocovax vaccine is in the third phase of clinical trials.

The ministry’s National Ethics Committee in Biomedical Research will hold an appraisal meeting after it receives reports on the mid-term results of the third phase of the clinical trials, the ministry said.

The ministry will then notify the sponsor and the clinical-trial organiser to complete the application for a licence.

For the COVIVAC vaccine, on April 20, 2022, the committee held a meeting to appraise the third-phase research protocol. The committee already approved the research outline.

The ministry has directed specialised units to organise seminars to consult experts and relevant agencies for recommendations on the next direction for the COVIVAC vaccine, the ministry said.

For the ARCT-154 vaccine, the committee approved the mid-term result report of the vaccine’s third-phase clinical trial on May 9, 2022. The ministry has considered issuing circulation permits for the vaccine.

The ministry said the COVID-19 HIPRA vaccine has completed the first-dose injection for 256 volunteers of the second-phase clinical trial. The research data has been transferred to Spain for analysis results.

Research activities in Việt Nam have been implemented in accordance with the outline approved by the ministry.

For Shionogi's S-268019 vaccine, the third-phase research has been carried out in 15 provinces. There were 9,870 volunteers injected with the first dose and 9,090 volunteers injected with the second.

Organisations that have committed to conducting the clinical trial for the vaccine are the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Hà Nội Medical University, Việt Nam Military Medical University, Nha Trang Pasteur Institute and Tây Nguyên Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology.

The vaccine research has been implemented on schedule and in line with the research outline approved by the ministry. The research is set to finish in December 2023.

Vaccination

Regarding the reception and deployment of COVID-19 vaccinations, the ministry said that by August 11, 2022, the ministry had received a total of 253,071,094 doses of vaccine; 249,778,892 of these have been administered so far.

The injection progress has increased recently. In July 2022, 13.4 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were administered across the country, an increase of 2.1 million doses compared to June 2022.

Within three days (August 8-10, 2022), the number of injections increased from 170,000 to 410,000 daily. It is estimated that the average number of injections reached 320,000 per day.

Localities have been deploying injections for children aged five to under 12 years and people aged 12 years and older, under the ministry’s guidance.

Also in the report, the ministry said that it has continued following the recommendations of the World Health Organisation and the experiences of foreign countries, in order to make recommendations on vaccination for children under five years if there is sufficient scientific evidence to implement vaccination. — VNS