Vietnam begins production of Sputnik V vaccine
By
Chi Le September 24, 2021 | 10:19 pm GMT+7
A Vabiotech staff carries a box of Sputnik V vaccines in July 2021. Photo by Vabiotech
Vietnamese pharmaceutical company Vabiotech started mass production of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine Friday, using semi-finished material shipped from Russia, the company's representative told VnExpress.
It has received a large quantity of semi-finished vaccine products from the Russian partner to begin production. The final products will be used for Vietnam's vaccination program.
The company expects to produce up to 5 million doses a month and increase it to 100 million doses a year in the near future. The company also said it has built a factory for the eventual transfer of complete production technology for the Sputnik V vaccine.
The company had said in July that it had successfully produced the first batch of Sputnik V– about 30,000 doses. It was sent to the Gameleya Institute in Russia for quality verification.
On August 26, the Gamaleya Institute confirmed that the vaccine batch from Vietnam met the required quality standards.
The Sputnik V vaccine is developed based on the adenovirus vector, which involves inserting a piece of nCoV gene into the inactivated adenovirus to stimulate the response of immune cells. The vaccine is stored at 2-8 degrees Celsius and the waiting time between two injections is three weeks.
Announcing the results of the Sputnik V clinical trial in medical journal The Lancet, the manufacturer has said the vaccine has a 91.6 percent efficacy after the first shot, and 91.8 percent for those over 60 years old.
In Vietnam, Sputnik V was licensed by the Ministry of Health for emergency use on March 23 and trial production started late July.
So far, over 29.5 million people in Vietnam have been vaccinated at least once, including seven million have been fully vaccinated.
