HANOI: Vietnam's domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine, called nanocovax, is expected to be available by the fourth quarter of this year, the government said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Southeast Asian country has inoculated more than 16,000 people with AstraZeneca vaccines it received last month, the government said, adding that it was also in talks to buy vaccines from other producers, including Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and the Sputnik V maker.