Vaccine for frontline workers will bolster fight against virus

ADDED PROTECTION WILL REASSURE THOSE HANDLING HIGH-RISK PATIENTS

The UAE’s decision to authorise the emergency use of the Covid-19 vaccine for frontline workers will reassure them and strengthen the UAE’s fight against the coronavirus, leading health care providers said.

The vaccine, developed by Sinopharm China National Biotec Group has been granted regulatory approval in the UAE. Dr Nawal Al Kaabi, chairperson of the national COVID-19 clinical management committee, said the vaccine had continued to show positive results during its Phase III trials in the UAE.

Who will get it?

Apart from health workers, police personnel, security providers, humanitarian workers and volunteers are expected to get the vaccine.

Dr Al Kaabi said that the vaccine has been administered to 1,000 people with chronic conditions, and no complications were found.

Huge response to trials

The vaccine’s clinical trials in the UAE are being sponsored by Group 42, overseen by the Ministry of Health and Prevention and the Abu Dhabi Department of Health.

Within six weeks, the vaccine trials registered 31,000 volunteers from 125 nationalities in the UAE, even though the initial target number of volunteers had been announced as 15,000 people.

What’s next

G42 Healthcare has extended the phase III trials to Bahrain and Jordan.

In August, Sinopharm received emergency use approval in China for one of its two vaccines under development, as did Sinovac Biotech, another Chinese vaccine developer. Similarly, Russia has granted approval to its vaccine candidate after two months of testing.

These vaccine candidates have reportedly shown efficacy in the first two phases of vaccine trials, which test the substance on a large group of people, typically more than 1,000.