VABIOTECH, one of Vietnam’s leading pharmaceutical companies, on September 24 announced the successful production of a batch of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus.

President of VABIOTECH Do Tuan Dat said the made-in-Vietnam Sputnik V vaccine will be used in the national immunization program, adding that it went through quality control by Gamaleya Center, the Russian research institute that develops the vaccine.

Sputnik V vaccine is being packaged at VABIOTECH. Photo: Kinhtedothi

To date, Sputnik V has been registered in 68 countries with a total population of over 3.7 billion, which is nearly half of the global population. The data obtained by regulators of a number of countries during the vaccination of people in Mexico, Argentina, Serbia, Bahrain, Hungary, the UAE, and others, showing that Sputnik V is one of the safest and most effective vaccines against the coronavirus, Dat said.

In Vietnam, Sputnik V got approval from the Ministry of Health on March 23, 2021.

"As the pandemic is far from over and new, more dangerous variants of coronavirus are being detected in various regions of the world, the VABIOTECH is increasing its capacity for the production of Sputnik V to speed up the vaccination with one of the best vaccines in the world,” President of VABIOTECH Do Tuan Dat told The Hanoi Times.

Dat hopes that his firm will provide quality and affordable Covid-19 vaccines to Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries.

After successfully containing the virus for much of the pandemic, Vietnam is facing its worst outbreak, with a surge in daily infections to record levels adding to pressure on the government to shore up supplies and accelerate inoculations.

The Ministry of Health reported 9,465 new infections as of September 24 and the country has recorded 723,963 infections and 18,017 deaths overall.