Photo: Bao Dan Toc

Covid-19 infections fall, Moderna vaccine for children aged six to 11 approved

The Health Ministry announced the detection of 80,838 new Covid-19 infections on March 31, a drop of 4,932 cases from one day earlier. The majority of new cases were detected in Hanoi at 8,054, followed by Phu Tho province with 3,415 infections and Nghe An province with 3,399 cases.

Over the past 24 hours, 39 Covid-19 patients have died due to the virus, while the average death tally over the last seven days stood at 50. The Ministry of Health also announced a further 250,482 recoveries the same day, bringing the total number of recovered cases up to more than 7.5 million.

Photo: Bao Dan Toc

Moderna Covid-19 vaccine is approved for children from 6 to under 12 years old

Vietnam’s health authorities announced they have expanded the emergency use authorization for the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine (Spikevax) to include children from 6 to under 12 years old. The dosage will be 0.25ml, or half of the dosage for adults, according to the Drug Administration of Vietnam.

The amendment to the original approval of the vaccine is based on the request and subsequent data submission from Zuellig Pharma Vietnam, which distributes the Covid-19 vaccines in the Asian region. The primary vaccination course is two doses, with the interval between the two shots set at four weeks. Previously, the Ministry of Health had approved Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines (Comirnaty) for use in children aged 5-11 years old.

Vietnam is set to start vaccinating children in the 5-11 age range in the second week of April, with the first batch of vaccines (both Pfizer and Moderna’s) slated to be delivered as aid from Australia in the coming days. The ministry has been asking local administrations and health authorities to prepare to get the vaccination campaign rolling as soon as the vaccines are allocated and distributed.

Photo: VNA

Institute inviting volunteers for trials of nasal spray Covid-19 vaccine

The Pasteur Institute in Nha Trang city, Khanh Hoa province, is recruiting more volunteers for trials of a nasal spray Covid-19 vaccine. Trinh Thi Bich Thuy, Director of the institute’s center for training - scientific management - international cooperation, said they plan to recruit 3,000 volunteers aged at least 18 in central Quang Nam and Khanh Hoa provinces for the third-phase trials of the viral vector-based influenza vaccine.

Eligible volunteers should be healthy or with mild illnesses and in stable condition, haven’t been infected with Covid-19, and be ready to undergo four check-ups during the research process. Besides, their latest Covid-19 vaccine dose administration must be at least three months prior to the trials. The recruitment will last from now through April 30, she noted, adding that the trials are scheduled to last for one year since the spray administration, and the interval between two doses is 14 days.

The first- and second-phase clinical trials have proved this nasal spray vaccine is safe and good in immune response generation, according to Thuy. Apart from Vietnam, the third-phase trials of this vaccine are also being carried out in four other countries, namely Colombia, the Philippines, South Africa, and Indonesia.

Vietnam Covid-19 Updates (March 31): Nearly 86,000 New Infections, 41 Deaths Recorded As of March 30, Vietnam has detected 9,472,254 Covid-19 cases since the start of the outbreak, ranking 14th out of 225 countries and territories worldwide.

Vietnam Covid-19 Updates (March 30): Recoveries Hits Record Figure The national tally reached 9,386,489. By March 28, the country had injected 205,495,812 doses of Covid-19 vaccines.

Vietnam Covid-19 Updates (March 29): Infections on Downward Trajectory On average the daily number of fresh infections recorded in Vietnam in the past seven days remains high at 109,424 cases.