UAE, China to launch new Chinese vaccine production line

The UAE will start producing the Chinese Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine from April, Report informs referring to the Financial Times.

The UAE, which began administering the jab to healthcare professionals last September, became the first country to approve Sinopharm for general use in December, saying it was 86 per cent effective in preventing Covid-19.

The jab is by far the most widely used vaccine in the UAE’s nationwide effort that has helped the country deliver 81 doses per 100 people, second only to Israel among populous nations. Other vaccines being deployed include BioNTech/Pfizer, Oxford/AstraZeneca and the Russian Sputnik V jab.

A newly-created joint venture between Sinopharm CNBG and Abu Dhabi-based G42 aims to produce up to 200 million doses annually at a plant that will become operational this year, Bloomberg reports.

Production on a smaller scale has already started at an existing Gulf Pharmaceutical Industries PSC plant with a capacity of 2 million doses per month.

The country has since overseen one of the world’s fastest inoculation drives, with most people receiving the Chinese vaccine. The locally-made shot will be called Hayat-Vax - Hayat being the Arabic word for life - and is the same as the Sinopharm vaccine approved in the UAE last year.