Homegrown candidate vaccine Covivac begins second stage of clinical trials
Vietnam’s second homegrown candidate vaccine Covivac began the second stage of clinical trials in the northern province of Thai Binh’s Vu Thu district on August 11 with the screening testing to choose qualified volunteers.
Vietnam’s second homegrown candidate vaccine Covivac (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam’s second homegrown candidate vaccine Covivac beganthe second stage of clinical trials in the northern province of Thai Binh’s VuThu district on August 11 with the screening testing to choose qualifiedvolunteers.
The screening testing will be conducted for six days, and thefirst jabs are expected to be given on August 18.
A total of 375 volunteers, chosen from 750 local residentsin Vu Thu district, will be classified in three groups for the 3mcg and 6 mcgdosages and injections of vaccine AstraZeneca (instead of placebo infections inthe first phase).
Earlier, assessing the first stage of Covivac human trialson over 120 volunteers since March 15, the National Ethics Committee inBiomedical Research under the Ministry of Health concluded that the vaccine wassafe, well tolerated, immunogenic, and eligible for the second stage.
Covivac has been developed and produced by the Institute of Vaccines and Medical Biologicals (IVAC). Ituses primary chicken embryo cell culture - a technique the institute usedpreviously to successfully produce seasonal flu vaccines.
Associate Professor, Dr. Vu Dinh Thiem, director of theNIHE’s clinical trial center, said that the selected volunteers must be over 18years old, possibly up to 70-80 years old, including those with chronicdiseases such as diabetes, hypertension but under stable treatment.
If the second stage goes well, by the end of September, theresearch team will collect blood samples from the volunteers on the 42nd dayafter their first jabs to evaluate the vaccine’s immunogenicity.
On the 57th day, the volunteers will continue to undergophysical examination and take blood tests for evaluation and analysis beforethe team proposes the third stage of trials on 1,000 volunteers./.
Since the COVID-19 outbreak, the Health Ministry has directed units to study and clinically test made-in-Vietnam vaccines while seeking technological transfer from abroad to proactively fight the pandemic in the country.
Vietnam’s second homegrown Covivac candidate vaccine will begin the second stage of clinical trials in the northern province of Thai Binh’s Vu Thu district on August 10.
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Vietnam’s second homegrown candidate vaccine Covivac (Photo: VNA) 
