Vietnam's Covid-19 vaccine creates very good immunity, preparing for phase 2

On the morning of January 14, the Military Medical Academy began giving the second injection.Nanocovax vaccine25mcg dose for the first 3 volunteers of group 1 (including 20 people) 28 days after the first injection.

The first 3 volunteers include 1 male and 2 females, aged 21 to 42. The remaining 17 people in group 1 are expected to receive the second injection on January 17.

After the second injection, all three volunteers were in stable health and stayed at the Military Medical Academy for 24 hours of monitoring before returning home. After the first injection, two-thirds of the volunteers had a mild fever and pain at the injection site, but all went away after 24 hours, while the remaining cases had no reactions.

Research staff prepare a dose of Nanocovax 25mcg vaccine before injection.

Also today, 10 more volunteers will receive the first injection of the 75mcg Nanocovax vaccine, one day earlier than the original plan with permission from the Ministry of Health.

Associate Professor, Dr. Ho Anh Son - Deputy Director of Military Medical Research Institute,Military Medical AcademyThe research team injected phase 1 trials on more than 40 volunteers in all 3 dose groups of 25mcg, 50mcg and 75mcg. Through monitoring, the volunteers' health was stable and their mental state was completely normal.

After vaccination, blood samples were taken from volunteers on days 7, 14 and 21 for the research team to assess immunogenicity and virus neutralization ability.

“Our initial results show that the Nanocovax vaccine is very safe and creates a very good immune response. After the second injection, the amount of antibodies will continue to increase 4-5 times, even 20 times,” Associate Professor Son informed.

The first 3 volunteers in Vietnam received the second injection of the Nanocovax vaccine produced by Nanogen.

The research team will continue to monitor the volunteers' health for another 6 months and 1 year to assess whether the antibody levels are sustainable and how long they last.

“The study has completed more than half of phase 1, so we are processing data and submitting ethics documents to the Ministry of Health to determine the appropriate dose for phase 2. Most likely, phase 2 will begin right after Tet and maintain 2 dose levels,” said Associate Professor Son.

According to Associate Professor Son, compared with the selection criteriavolunteerof many large pharmaceutical companies in the world, Vietnam requires stricter criteria. There was a volunteer from Dong Thap, waiting 5 days to get vaccinated but after 3 tests, one index did not meet the standard so he had to go home.

In phase 1, because the research focuses on evaluating the safety of the vaccine and finding the optimal dose, volunteers must have a BMI of 18-28 and have never had a hypersensitivity or allergic reaction.

However, in phase 2, the criteria will be much broader, requiring 560 volunteers to participate.