What’s New: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorized emergency use of experimental coronavirus vaccines developed by a Chinese pharmaceutical company for front-line workers.
The emergency approval involves two inactivated Covid-19 vaccines developed by the China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm). Both are in final phase III clinical trials.
According to the UAE’s National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority, 31,000 volunteers have already participated in clinical trials of the vaccines in the country, and the results have met a set of standards. No unexpected side effects have been detected so far, the agency said.
What’s the context: The approval made Sinopharm the first vaccine maker to deploy an experimental Covid-19 vaccine in a foreign country. Sinopharm launched phase III clinical trials for the candidate vaccines in July in the UAE.
The approval also made the UAE the first country to follow China’s lead in deploying vaccines before completing final-stage clinical trials.
According to Sinopharm, it has inoculated hundreds of thousands of people in China with its candidate vaccines under a national emergency program, and no adverse effect has been reported.
Related: Experimental Covid-19 Vaccines Given to Hundreds of Thousands of Chinese
Contact reporter Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com) and editor Bob Simison (bobsimisom@caixin.com).
