After UAE, Bahrain To Start Sinopharm Vaccine Trials For Frontline Workers
Bahrain has now granted emergency approval for the use of a COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine candidate to be administered has been made under a collaboration between Chinas Sinopharm China National Biotec Group CNBG and Group 42. A similar emergency use of the same vaccine was authorised for frontline workers by the UAE back in September.
Following the steps of UAE, Bahrain has now granted emergency approval for the use of a COVID-19 vaccine.
The vaccine candidate to be administered has been made under a collaboration between China¡¯s Sinopharm China National Biotec Group (CNBG) and Abu Dhabi-based Group 42.
(Representative Image: AFP)
While the former is a pharmaceutical major, Group 42 is an artificial intelligence and cloud computing company. The vaccine candidate developed by the partnership is currently in phase III trials being conducted on frontline workers from Tuesday, as reported by state news agency BNA.
Sinopharm¡¯s vaccine candidate is being put to trial in other countries too, including United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Jordan. Beginning mid-July in the UAE, the vaccine trial is currently nearing the end of its phase III trials in all the countries.
The report by BNA quoted Bahrain's Health Minister Faeqa bint Saeed Al Saleh as saying, "The results of phase I and phase II clinical trials showed the vaccine is safe and effective." She further mentioned that the phase III trials were going smoothly and had now serious side effects.
Emergency step
A COVID-19 Human Immunoglobulin for Intravenous Injection from China National Biotec Group (CNBG) (Image: Reuters)
The health minister stated that the use of the vaccine is in line with the country's regulations on exceptional licensing in emergency cases. A similar emergency use of the same Covid-19 vaccine was authorised for frontline workers by the UAE back in September.
By September, the coronavirus vaccine had been administered to more than 31,000 people across countries, as mentioned by G42 Healthcare CEO Ashish Koshy at the time. In Bahrain, around 7,770 people have volunteered in the Phase III trials and have received a second dose, the health minister said on Tuesday.
These include several ministers and senior officials, in both the UAE and Bahrain, including Bahrain's crown prince as well as the Prime Minister and Vice-President of the UAE.
