Hanoi-based Company for Vaccine and Biological Production No.1 (VABIOTECH) under Vietnam’s Ministry of Health will test a second batch of Covid-19 vaccine on mice, Zing.vn quoted Dr. Do Tuan Dat, president of VABIOTECH, as saying.

50 mice in the lab remain healthy 10 days after being administered a Covid-19 vaccine produced in Vietnam on April 26. Photo: BSCC

Dat said that VABIOTECH will conduct a test shot of Covid-19 vaccine on mice in early June. The number of mice has currently not yet been decided.

VABIOTECH is the first company in Vietnam to successfully develop Covid-19 candidate vaccine and apply on mice almost immediately after the disease broke out in China’s Wuhan, by collaborating with scientists at the UK’s Bristol University.

"We have used mice to make the first evaluation model, to see whether they have immune response and produce antibodies or not. Then, we proceed with the next research steps," Dat said.

On April 26, fifty mice in the lab remained healthy 10 days after being administered Covid-19 vaccine produced in Vietnam. Over the next four or five days, researchers sent the mice’s blood samples to the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology for first evaluation and the second in the next 14 days.

"This is an initial success in developing a Covid-19 vaccine in Vietnam," Dr. Do Tuan Dat said.

Regarding the expected time for "made in Vietnam" Covid-19 vaccine, Dat said that vaccine for human injection needs to meet strict standards.

"With the experience we have, it will take at least eight or nine months to develop a Covid-19 vaccine that can work safely on humans. We also want to shorten the time and are working hard for that," Dat stressed.

A vaccine is generally considered the most effective way to fight a viral disease.

There are currently no approved vaccines or medication for the Covid-19, which has killed more than 325,150 people worldwide and infected more than five million. Around 150 Covid-19 vaccine development projects are being conducted worldwide.