Vietnam successfully produced measles and rubella combined vaccine

It is the first MR vaccine that has been successfully produced in Vietnam through technology transfer under the project on “Strengthening capacity for Measles-Rubella combined vaccine production” funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The project has been implemented since May 2013 and lasted for four years and 11 months, with the total budget of around JPY700 million.

This March, with technical support from Japanese experts and countless efforts of POLYVAC staffs, MR vaccine was first placed for the clinical trial testing and effectively assessed to be safe and effective to be used for humans.

                                                                                    MR vaccine produced by POLYVAC
                                                        Technical staff operating the MR vaccine production line (1)
                                                        Technical staff operating the MR vaccine production line (2)
                                                                            MR vaccine filling line (Photos: JICA Vietnam Office)

Since the commencement of the project until October 2016, the Japanese technology transfer counterpart, Kitasato Daiichi Sankyo Vaccine Company Limited, has dispatched 197 experts to Vietnam in order to assist POLYVAC with technology transfer and received 36 POLYVAC staffs to its factory in Japan for training.

In the coming time, POLYVAC will be completing all the required procedures to apply for a marketing license so that the MR vaccine would be provided for the Expanded Program on Immunization which gives free vaccination to Vietnamese children, tentatively starting in 2017.

The year of 2015 was memorable to the vaccine industry of Vietnam when the National Regulatory Authority of vaccine was officially certified by the World Health Organization. In 2016, Vietnam was remarked in the world map of vaccine production countries by its self-manufacture of the high quality MR vaccine applying Japanese technology.

The country is proud to be one of the twenty-five countries worldwide which can produce vaccine and the forth country in Asia which can manufacture the MR vaccine following Japan, India, and China./.