Vietnam produces first batch of Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and VABIOTECH, one of the leading Vietnamese pharmaceutical companies, unveiled on July 21 that the initial test batch of the Russian-developed Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 has been produced in Vietnam.

Rusia's Sputnik V vaccine proves to be more than 97% effective against COVID-19, acccording to the developer. (Photo: Reuters)

The first validation samples which have been taken from the produced batch are set to be shipped to the Gamaleya Center to undergo quality control.

Sputnik V was initially approved for emergency use in Vietnam by the Ministry of Health on March 23. The vaccine has been registered in 68 countries globally, covering over 3.7 billion people, or roughly half of the world’s population.

Data show the vaccine has been used in Argentina, Serbia, Bahrain, Hungary, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, the Philippines, and many others, proving it is safe and effective against COVID-19.

Sputnik V is based on a proven and well-studied platform of human adenoviral vectors which makes use of two different vectors for the two shots in a course of vaccination, thereby providing immunity with a longer duration than vaccines which make use of the same delivery mechanism for both shots.

Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, stated that the RDIF and VABIOTECH are actively co-operating in the technology transfer process in order to provide easier access to Sputnik V for the Vietnamese population.

As the pandemic is far from over, whilst new and more dangerous variants of COVID-19 are being detected in various regions worldwide, the RDIF is striving to increase its capacity for production of Sputnik V in order to speed up the vaccination process, he noted.

Meanwhile, Dr. Dat Tuan Do, president of VABIOTECH, expressed his great pleasure at working alongside the RDIF to bring Sputnik V to Vietnamese citizens and boosting the nation’s ongoing fight against the pandemic.

He voiced his hope that continued co-operation between the RDIF and VABIOTECH will serve to provide quality and affordable COVID-19 vaccines to Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries.

Sputnik V is the world's first COVID-19 vaccine. Russian scientist Denis Logunov, who is considered as the leading developer of the Sputnik V vaccine, said in a real assessment based on the data of 3.8 million people, that the vaccine was 97.6% effective against COVID-19.

The Gamaleya Institute revealed on June 29 that the Sputnik V vaccine is also roughly 90% effective in preventing against the Delta variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus which was first identified in India ans has spread to more than 100 countries worldwide.