The United Arab Emirates granted emergency approval for the use of a coronavirus vaccine on Monday, six weeks after human trials began in the Arab Gulf state.
A phase III trial of an inactivated Covid-19 vaccine developed by the Chinese state pharmaceutical company Sinopham began in the United Arab Emirates in July and has yet to be completed.
“The vaccine will be made available to our first line of defense heroes who are at the highest risk of contracting the virus,” the National Emergency Disaster and Crisis Management Authority said in a tweet.
The announcement comes amid a surge in new Covid-19 cases in the UAE, which reported 1,007 cases on Saturday, its highest level since the start of the pandemic. 777 new cases were registered on Monday.
The emergency use of the vaccine, which is still being tested, was granted after established criteria and after being tested on 31,000 volunteers, he said.
There were mild and expected side effects, but there have been no serious side effects, the agency said without specifying. He added that 1,000 people with chronic diseases who participated saw no complications.
Sinopharm obtained trial approval in late June. The experimental vaccine passed Phases I and II of clinical trials with 100% of the volunteers generating antibodies after two doses in 28 days, a statement from the Abu Dhabi government said in July.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, inactivated vaccines, made with inactivated (killed) viruses or a protein from the virus, are well known and have been used against diseases such as influenza and measles.
Russia became the first country in the world to grant regulatory approval to a coronavirus vaccine in August, after less than two months of human testing.
.
