Vietnam in talks with U.S. for local production of COVID-19 mRNA vaccine
Vietnam is in talks with the United States on production national mRNA vaccine, its foreign ministry said Thursday, as the country seeks to increase supplies amid its worst coronavirus outbreak to date.
After controlling virus for much of pandemic, Vietnam faces surgedaily infections. It has imposed strict travel restrictions in about a third of the country, including the Ho Chi Minh City shopping center and the capital, Hanoi.
Local production of the unidentified mRNA vaccine could begin in the fourth quarter or early 2022, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said during a regular press briefing, adding that Vietnam could produce 100 to 200 million doses per year under such an agreement.
US pharmaceutical companies Pfizer (PFE.N) and Moderna (MRNA.O) , which use new technology d Messenger RNA (mRNA) in their vaccines, did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Hfrance.fr.
These vaccines do not contain any real viruses, instead providing instructions for human cells to make proteins that mimic part of the coronavirus. These instructions prompt the immune system to act, turning the body into a factory for virus vaccines.
The Health Ministry reported on Thursday 6,194 news COVID-19 infections. , a record daily increase. This brought the total number of cases in Vietnam to 74,371, with 370 deaths.
Many Asian governments are seeking to increase vaccine production at home by as supplies hampered their vaccination campaigns, which are lagging behind in North America and Europe.
BioNTech has a production agreement with the China via local partner Fosun Pharma (600196.SS) and plans to build a vaccine plant in Singapore that will come into operation in 2023.
In South Korea, Samsung BioLogics (207940.KS) plans to start vaccine bottling and packaging work for Moderna in the third quarter and the country is in talks with vaccine manufacturers at MRNA to manufacture up to 1 billion doses.
Vietnam will receive an additional 3 million doses of Moderna’s vaccine on July 25 from the United States via the COVAX Global Immunization Program, Hang said, adding to the 2 millions of doses of Moderna the United States shipped it on July 10.
In total, Vietnam – with a population of 98 million ‘residents – has reached deals for 105 million doses of vaccine and is in talks for 70 million more. Less than 330,000 people have been fully immunized.
PRODUCTION IN VIETNAM
In May, the World Health Organization declared that it was considering a proposal from an unidentified manufacturer in Vietnam will become a hub of mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine technology.
On Wednesday, Russian fund RDIF and Vietnamese company Vabiotech said the latter had produced the first test batch of the Sputnik V vaccine and was about to ship it to Russia for further processing.s quality controls.
Hang said on Thursday that Vabiotech will initially start packaging five million doses of Sputnik V per month, using materials from Russia, and is preparing to produce 100 million doses a year later.
« Vabiotech is also in talks with a Japanese partner to transfer vaccine production technologies to Vietnam in the near future « she added.Additional reporting by Miyoung Kim in Singapore Editing by James Pearson, Clarence Fernandez and Frances Kerry
Reuters – July 22, 2021