On October 10, the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology announced that it has submitted documentation and procedures to the Scientific Council of the Ministry of Science and Technology, as well as the Ministry of Health, regarding the clinical trials of the H5N1 flu vaccine on humans.
Mr. Nguyen Tran Hien, the Director of the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, stated that the institute’s scientists are urgently completing the necessary steps for testing the H5N1 flu vaccine on humans in laboratories. If all goes as planned, Vietnam will officially begin human trials in early 2006, followed by the production of the H5N1 flu vaccine for human use.
The research project for the H5N1 vaccine for humans has been underway at the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology since April 2004. The institute’s scientists have previously tested this vaccine on monkeys and chickens, yielding promising results.
