According to Nguyen Dang Hien, Director of the Centre for Research and Production of Vaccines and Biology ( POLYVAC ), the project started in May 2013 with a total cost of 700 million JPY (6.7 million USD).

In March 2016, with the assistance of Japanese experts and efforts of the centre’s staff, the measles-rubella vaccine was clinically tested and proven safe and effective, Hien said.

Specifically, the vaccine has been tested on 756 healthy people aged between 1-45 in five communes in Phu Ly city of Ha Nam province and three communes in Kim Boi district of Hoa Binh province.

The Science Technology and Training Administration (STTA) has verified that the measles-rubella vaccine produced by the centre has met the requirements in terms of safety and immunity.

The centre will accelerate the circulation process to provide this vaccine to the national expanded immunization programme targeting Vietnamese children by 2017.

In 2015, the World Health Organisation (WHO) certified that Vietnam has a fully-equipped national regulatory authority (NRA) system that ensures the safety and efficacy of vaccines produced and used in Viet Nam.

Currently, Vietnam is among 25 nations that can produce vaccines in the world, and four in Asia that can produce the measles-rubella vaccine, following Japan, India, and China.-VNA