The Institute of Vaccines and Medical Biologicals (IVAC) on Friday started recruiting volunteers for the initial phase of clinical trials for the second Made-in-Vietnam Covid-19 vaccine known as Covivac. Illustrative photo by VNA According to IVAC, they will select 150 volunteers aged between 18 and 59 for the first phase of human trials, in which they will be injected with two 0.5 ml doses of the vaccine 28 days apart. Volunteers will remain at the clinical trial area for a period of 24 hours after receiving their shots in order to allow them to be under strict health observations by the research team. The aim of the first phase is to evaluate the safety of the doses, along with the patient’s immune response to the vaccine, thereby identifying the optimal level of the doses so trials can move on to the second phase. Through pre-clinical assessments carried out in India, the United States, and Vietnam, the locally-produced Covivac vaccine has recorded a strong immunological effect on laboratory animals and has so far proved to be safe. IVAC's director, Duong Huu Thai said the research project on the vaccine has been running since May, 2020, with the co-operation of scientists from universities, research institutes, and international organisations, adding that it has been produced from embryonic egg production technology, which is safe for animals. Thai emphasised that the Covivac vaccine was also proved to be effective against the new SARS-CoV strain detected in both the UK and South Africa. The vaccine is expected to be launched later this year after passing through three phases of human trials. Moving forward, the IVAC plans to offer the Covivac vaccine at a price of VND60,000 per dose. Furthermore, as the first domestically-produced Covid-19 vaccine, Nanocovax, which has been developed by Nanogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology JSC, has now moved onto its second phase of human trials. …
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