Our Correspondent
The United Arab Emirates made history on March 29 with the decision to commence manufacturing the COVID-19 vaccine in the country. The vaccine will be called Hayat-Vax (hayat means life in Arabic). It is the first indigenous COVID-19 vaccine from the region and will be manufactured jointly by China’s Sinopharm CNBG and G42, a leading technology company based in Abu Dhabi. Sinopharm, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, has supplied over 100 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine globally.
The announcement was made at an event in Abu Dhabi, by H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and Wang Yi, State Councillor and Minister of Foreign Affairs of China, in the presence of dignitaries from the two nations.
A purpose-built research and development hub for life sciences, biotechnology and vaccine production is being set up in KIZAD, the integrated trade, logistics and industrial hub in Abu Dhabi. Last year, G42 and Sinopharm CNBG successfully collaborated to conduct 4Humanity, the world’s first phase III clinical trial of inactivated vaccines across the Pan Arab region with over 43,000 volunteers participating from over 125 nationalities.
The vaccine plant in KIZAD will become operational this year. It will have a production capacity of 200 million doses per annum across three filling lines and five automated packaging lines. The joint venture is already producing Hayat-Vax with its partner Julphar in the UAE with an initial capacity of 2 million doses per month.
Hayat-Vax is the same Sinopharm CNBG’s BiBP inactivated vaccine that was officially registered by the UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP) on December 9, 2020; it was subsequently registered in China by the Chinese Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) on December 30, 2020 following the updated Sinopharm interim results submitted in China which showed 79.34% efficacy.
Nearly a fortnight back, the UAE national vaccination programme has managed to reach over 52% of the country’s population. With the ‘Made in UAE’ Hayat-Vax COVID-19 vaccine, the UAE’s vaccination programme will be available across 205 medical centres nationally.
