The Vietnamese Ministry of Health has granted conditional approval for the emergency use of India’s Covaxin vaccine against the novel coronavirus, making it the ninth COVID-19 jab authorized in the Southeast Asian country.

The vaccine, developed by India’s Bharat Biotech International Limited, was given the approval under a decision of the Ministry of Health on Wednesday.

The vaccine relies on an inactivated SARS-CoV-2 antigen (Strain NIV-770-2020) and is presented in single-dose bottles and vials of 5, 10, and 20 doses.

Each 0.5ml dose of Covaxin vaccine contains 6mcg of the antigen prepared in the form of suspension for injection.

On November 3, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued an emergency use listing for Covaxin, adding it to a growing portfolio of vaccines approved by the WHO for the prevention of COVID-19.

The WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization recommended use of the vaccine in two doses spaced four weeks apart for individuals aged 18 and above.

Covaxin has been found to have 78 percent efficacy against COVID-19 of any severity, 14 or more days after the second dose, and is recommended for low- and middle-income countries due to easy storage requirements, the WHO said on its website last week.

The health ministry has tasked the Drug Administration of Vietnam with licensing the importation of the vaccine to ensure compliance with regulations on quality control of imported jabs.

The Department of Science and Technology was asked to select a qualified agency to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Covaxin while the General Department of Preventive Medicine will be charged with carrying out vaccination.

This is the ninth vaccine authorized for emergency use by the Vietnamese Ministry of Health, following the UK’s AstraZeneca, China’s Sinopharm, Russia’s Sputnik V, the UAE’s Hayat-Vax, Cuba’s Abdala, and three U.S. vaccines including Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson.

Vietnam has so far received around 125 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines out of the 200 million shots that had been contracted.

Health authorities aim to immunize at least two-thirds of a population of nearly 98 million people against COVID-19 by the first quarter of next year.

Vietnam’s health workers have administered about 62.8 million first vaccine doses and 31.1 million second shots to people nationwide since immunization was rolled out on March 8, according to official figures.

The Southeast Asian country has recorded 992,735 patients, including 844,054 recoveries and 22,765 deaths, since the COVID-19 pandemic first hit it early last year, the health ministry’s data shows.

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