Six volunteers stable after first shot of second local COVID-19 vaccine
The initial six volunteers participating in human trials of Covivac, the second locally-produced COVID-19 vaccine, remain in stable condition after receiving a dose of the experimental vaccine on March 15.
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| A volunteer is given the Covivac vaccine shot. |
According to Vu Dinh Thiem, director of the Center for Clinical Trials under the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, only a few cases showed mild post-injection symptoms within 30 minutes to 60 minutes of the injection, such as a headache or muscle pain around the injection site.
The volunteers will self-monitor their health and note their medical records before returning to the hospital on March 22 for samples to be taken.
Once developed, Covivac will be a liquid vaccine with or without adjuvants, without preservatives, and making use of production technology of the Newcastle vector vaccine which is based on production technology that uses chicken eggs with embryos. This technology is also used in order to produce seasonal flu vaccines in Viet Nam.
According to Duong Huu Thai, director of the Institute of Vaccines and Medical Biologicals (IVAC), the Covivac vaccine antibody will also protect recipients against variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus from the UK and South Africa.
After conducting seven months of research between May and December last year, the IVAC has successfully produced three consecutive batches on a large scale, from 50,000 to 100,000 doses per batch. According to calculations, each dose of the vaccine will cost no more than VND60,000, equal to US$2.6.
Alongside Nano Covax, Covivac is the second COVID-19 vaccine in Viet Nam to reach the clinical trials stage.
(Source: VOV)
