On November 10, Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen signed a decision on conditional approval of the Covaxin vaccine for urgent needs in the prevention of the Covid-19 epidemic. It is produced by Bharat Biotech International Limited of India.

Each 0.5ml dose of Covaxin vaccine contains 6 mcg of inactivated antigen of SARS-CoV-2 (strain NIV-2020-770), for injection. The vaccine is packaged in 16 vials, each containing 1 dose, 5 doses, 10 doses and 20 doses; with 0.5 ml each dose.

The Ministry of Health requires the Vietnam Drug Administration to be responsible for licensing the import of Covaxin vaccine.

The Agency of Science, Technology and Training will select a unit that will be responsible for directing the organization to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the Covaxin vaccine on the basis of advice from the Advisory Council.

The Agency of Preventive Medicine and the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology will perform the assigned tasks in the plan to deploy the vaccination campaign in 2021-2022. The National Institute for Accreditation of Vaccines and Medical Biologicals will inspect and issue a Certificate for batches of Covaxin vaccines before they are put into use.

On November 3, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially approved the Covaxin vaccine. This vaccine meets WHO standards for protection against Covid-19. The Indian-made vaccine is the 7th COVID-19 vaccine approved by WHO.

According to research published by Bharat Biotech pharmaceutical company in July, Covaxin had an efficacy of 93.4% against severe COVID-19 disease, and an overall vaccine efficacy of 77.8% against symptomatic infections confirmed by PCR tests. Against asymptomatic COVID-19, the efficacy was 63.6%. The vaccine also conferred 65.2% protection against symptomatic infection with the Delta variant.

Quynh Anh

Vietnam to give vaccine booster shots later this year

Vietnam has reached agreements for 200 million Covid-19 vaccine doses and has received about 125 million doses.