The primate breeding facility on Reu Island is POLYVAC's third facility. This picturesque island covers over 20 hectares, with lush vegetation year-round. Originally an uninhabited island without freshwater, it resembles a miniature primeval forest. In 1960, when Dr. Hoang Thuy Nguyen traveled to Moscow to receive training on Sabin vaccine production technology, Dr. Nguyen Van Man and several staff members from the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology used a sailing boat to explore from Lan Ha Bay. At that time, they searched through over 2,000 islands of various sizes in the Ha Long Bay complex but could not find a suitable location for primate breeding to support vaccine production, quality control, and research purposes. Finally, in the Bai Tu Long Bay-Cam Pha area, they discovered Reu Island as the most suitable site for establishing the primate breeding facility.
The rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) is a rare primate species that is now infrequently found in the natural coastal environment of Quang Ninh province. These primates are bred to harvest kidney cells for culturing poliovirus in vaccine production and for testing the neurovirulence of vaccines.
