At least one domestic COVID-19 vaccine to be licenced by year-end

At least one homegrown COVID-19 vaccine will be licenced for use by the end of this year, Nguyen Ngo Quang, Deputy Director of the Department of Science, Technology and Training under the Ministry of Health (MoH).

Quang revealed the information during a meeting on research, technology transfer and clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccines and medicines in Hanoi on September 14.

Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan said besides efforts in negotiations to procure COVID-19 vaccines from foreign manufacturers, the MoH has created favourable conditions for domestic developers in terms of vaccine research, technology transfer and clinical trials.

At the meeting, experts and scientists hailed positive signs of Vietnam’s vaccine development projects and voiced their opinions on the strategy to buy, import and export COVID-19 vaccines.

As scientists said that the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 will continue to exist, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, who is also deputy head of the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, underlined the importance of meticulous preparations.

If there is early supply of treatment medicines and positive signs of vaccine development in the coming time, Vietnam can live with the virus, he added.