|
 After reining in the virus for much of the pandemic, Vietnam faces a
surge in daily infections, forcing strict curbs on movement in about
a third of the nation, including its commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh
City and the capital, Hanoi.
Local production of the unidentified mRNA vaccine could begin in the
fourth quarter or early in 2022, foreign ministry spokeswoman Le Thi
Thu Hang told a regular news briefing.
Vietnam could produce 100 million to 200 million vaccine doses a
year under such a deal, she added.
U.S. drug firms Pfizer and Moderna, which use new messenger RNA
(mRNA) technology in their vaccines, did not immediately reply to
Reuters' requests for comments.
Such vaccines contain no actual virus, instead providing
instructions for human cells to make proteins that mimic part of the
coronavirus. These instructions spur the immune system into action,
turning the body into a virus-zapping vaccine factory.
Many Asian governments are looking to build up vaccine production at
home as tight global supplies have hobbled their inoculation
campaigns, which lag North America and Europe in the battle against
a surge in daily infections. BioNTech has a production deal with
China through local partner Fosun Pharma and plans to build a
vaccine factory in Singapore that will begin operation in 2023. In
South Korea, Samsung BioLogics plans to start vaccine bottling and
packaging work for Moderna in the third quarter and the country is
in talks with mRNA vaccine makers to make up to 1 billion doses.
Vietnam will receive an additional 3 million shots of Moderna's
COVID-19 vaccine on July 25 from the United States via the global
COVAX vaccine scheme, Hang said, adding to the 2 million Moderna
doses the U.S. shipped it on July 10.
[to top of second column] |
 Hanoi is keen to boost its
vaccine capacity.
In May, the World Health Organization said it
was reviewing a proposal by an unidentified
manufacturer in Vietnam to become an mRNA-based
COVID-19 vaccine technology hub.
On Wednesday, Russia's RDIF fund and Vietnamese
firm Vabiotech said the latter had produced the
first test batch of COVID-19 Sputnik V vaccine
and was about to ship it to Russia for quality
control checks.
Hang said on Thursday Vabiotech would initially
start packaging five million Sputnik V doses a
month, using materials from Russia, and moving
to produce 100 million doses a year later.
"Vabiotech is also in talks with a Japanese
partner to soon transfer vaccine production
technologies to Vietnam," she added.
Vietnam's latest outbreak, which includes the
highly infectious Delta variant, has accounted
for about 95% of its 67,422 pandemic infections
and 335 deaths since late April.
The country, with a population of 98 million,
has clinched deals for 105 million vaccine doses
and is in talks for 70 million more. Fewer than
330,000 people have been fully vaccinated.
(Additional reporting by Miyoung Kim in
Singapore; Editing by James Pearson and Clarence
Fernandez)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content
 |
