REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, HANOI -- Vietnam on Thursday inaugurated its first influenza vaccine manufacturing factory in south central coastal Khanh Hoa Province, some 1,040 km south of capital Hanoi.
Funded by the World Health Organization (WHO), the factory has a capacity of around 1.5 million doses of influenza vaccine a year, reported Vietnam's state-run news agency VNA on Thursday.
The factory project began in 2008 under good manufacturing practice standard known as WHO-GMP. In 2011, the Institute of Vaccine and Medical Biology IVAC produced three lots of influenza vaccine A/H1N1 under national standards which were successfully tested on human in southern Long An Province.
In 2012, IVAC continued to successfully produce nine lots of A/ H5N1 qualifying WHO-GMP which are under tests.
Established in 1978 in Nha Trang of Khanh Hoa Province, the IVAC's function is to research and manufacture vaccines and medical biological products and provide related services and consultations.