Vietnam approves Hayat-Vax COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use

The Ministry of Health has just conditionally approved a COVID-19 vaccine called Hayat-Vax for urgent use in the prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic, making it the 7th COVID-19 vaccine urgently approved in Vietnam.

Vietnam currently has five vaccines against COVID-19 being injected, including: AstraZeneca, Sputnik V, Pfizer, Moderna and Vero Cell. (Illustrative image)
Vietnam currently has five vaccines against COVID-19 being injected, including: AstraZeneca, Sputnik V, Pfizer, Moderna and Vero Cell. (Illustrative image)

Hayat-Vax vaccine is a suspension injection. Each 0.5 ml dose contains 6.5 units of inactivated SARS-CoV-2 antigen (vero cells).

The vaccine has been semi-finished by the Beijing Institute of Biological Products Co., Ltd. Of the China National Biotec Group Company Limited and packaged and delivered from Julphar (Gulf Pharmaceutical Industries) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The Drug Administration of Vietnam was asked to license the import of the vaccine while the Administration of Science Technology and Training was assigned to select and guide the qualified units to assess the vaccine's safety and efficiency based on consultancy from the Health Ministry’s advisory council on use of vaccines and biologicals.

Hayat-Vax is the 7th COVID-19 vaccine urgently approved by the Ministry of Health. Previously, the Ministry of Health had approved six other COVID-19 vaccines, including: AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson (Janssen vaccine), Sinopharm's Vero Cell, and Sputnik V.

Vietnam currently has five vaccines against COVID-19 being injected, including: AstraZeneca, Sputnik V, Pfizer, Moderna and Vero Cell. The manufacturers of these vaccines all recommend two shots.

As of September 10, Vietnam has injected more than 26 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, of which about 4.3 million people have received two doses.