UAE approves ‘86 per cent effective’ Chinese coronavirus vaccine
- Review of Sinopharm’s interim analysis of phase three trials found ‘no serious safety concerns’, health ministry says
- UAE trials involved 31,000 people aged 18 to 60 from 125 countries
01:21
UAE is first government to officially approve Chinese coronavirus vaccine developed by Sinopharm
Wednesday’s statement issued by the UAE’s health ministry via the official WAM news agency gave few details. It said the ministry had worked with its counterparts in Abu Dhabi to review the interim results from the final stage trials of a vaccine developed by Sinopharm and the Beijing Institute of Biological Products.
The statement said 31,000 volunteers from 125 countries had been involved in the trials. It said the vaccine was 100 per cent effective in preventing moderate and severe cases of the disease and no serious safety concerns were found, though it did not give details of any side effects.
There was no mention of how many infections were found in the vaccinated group and the placebo group.
Sinopharm and its subsidiary responsible for vaccine development, CNBG, has not issued any official statement about its final stage trials. Neither could be reached for comment on Wednesday.