Vietnam speeds up human trials for second Covid-19 vaccine

The progress of testing the Covivac vaccine on humans is being speeded up, but all the steps will guarantee safety and quality for the product, Duong Huu Thai, head of the Institute of Vaccines and Medical Biologicals (IVAC), which has developed the vaccine, told VnExpress Monday.

IVAC has mapped out a three-phase plan for the human trials starting January 21 and lasting until the end of this year so that the product can enter the market by next year.

As initially planned, the first phase was to be finished in July and for the second phase to start the same month or in August before IVAC called for volunteers and started the third phase in November.

But now the institute says it could start the second phase as early as June because all 120 volunteers chosen for the first phase would have received the first shot on April 27 and as per current schedule, get the second shot on May 15.

The group of 120 volunteers for the first phase of this vaccine’s human trial are between 18 and 59 years of age.

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