UAE announces emergency approval for use of COVID-19 vaccine

[Shiloh]

Source: https://financialpost.com/pmn/busine...d-19-vaccine-2

UAE announces emergency approval for use of COVID-19 vaccine
Author of the article: Reuters
Publishing date:
Sep 14, 2020 • Last Updated 2 hours ago • 1 minute read


DUBAI — The United Arab Emirates on Monday granted emergency approval for use of a coronavirus vaccine, six weeks after human trials in the Gulf Arab state started.

A phase III trial of a COVID-19 inactivated vaccine developed by Chinese state-owned pharmaceutical company Sinopham began in the UAE in July and is yet to be completed.

“The vaccine will be available to our first line of defense heroes who are at the highest risk of contracting the virus,” said the National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority 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 since the start of the pandemic. There were 777 new cases on Monday.

Emergency use of the vaccine, which is still being tested, was granted after a set criteria and after it had been tested on 31,000 volunteers, it said.

Mild and expected side effects occurred but there have been no severe side effects, the agency said without specifying. It added a thousand people suffering from chronic diseases who took part saw no complications...

[Shiloh]

Source: https://www.arabnews.com/node/1736921/middle-east

UAE reports 809 new Covid-19 cases, health minister begins vaccine trial
Updated 19 September 2020
Arab News
September 19, 2020 17:46


DUBAI: The UAE on Saturday recorded 809 new cases of COVID-19 and one death.
The Ministry of Health and Prevention said the total number of infected cases since the pandemic began has reached 84,242, while the total deaths has reached 404.
A further 722 people recovered from COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 73,512 recoveries.
The ministry said 103,000 new tests have been conducted on various groups of society, using the best and latest medical examination techniques.
The UAE health minister Abdul Rahman Al-Owais received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine, after the UAE authorized the use of the vaccine for doctors and frontline workers.
The ministry said in a statement that the minister received the vaccine “in line with the ministry’s plan that was announced last week, which includes providing the coronavirus vaccine to specific groups in the first line of defense,” state news agency WAM reported.
Al-Owais said: “By presenting this vaccine, we seek to provide all safety measures for the heroes of the first line of defense and protect them from any dangers that they may face due to the nature of their work.”...