The vaccine is currently being tested on mice.
The Saigon Times reports that VABIOTECH, which is owned by the Ministry of Health, hopes to begin human trials on a potential COVID-19 vaccine early next year.
VABIOTECH, in collaboration with University of Bristol in the UK, has been working on a vaccine since February. The work began after the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology isolated the novel coronavirus, known officially as SARS-CoV-2.
Thus far, the vaccine has been trialed on mice twice, with four batches vaccinated in late April showing promising results.
The vaccine will be trialed on mice once more within the next nine months, and if further positive results are obtained, human trials would be the next step. However, if the vaccine works on people, it would take at least three more months to put it into mass production.
VnExpress adds that this would put the vaccine on track for human use in October 2021, though this is certainly not guaranteed.
Do Tuan Dat, VABIOTECH's director, told the news source that it usually takes up to five years to produce a functioning trial vaccine, and up to a decade to create a vaccine that can be used on a mass scale, so the above timeline would be incredibly impressive if it holds true.
"Maybe in another 9-12 months there would be a vaccine qualified to be tested on humans," Dat said. "I used to believe the vaccine would be completed in six months. The government also wishes for development to hasten out of worry that there might be new COVID-19 outbreaks during winter, but nothing is for sure as there are a lot of issues in vaccine production."
Hundreds of vaccine projects are underway around the world, with researchers and scientists under pressure as the pandemic deepens in countries like the United States, India and Brazil.
[Photo via PATH]
