United Arab Emirates Prime Minister sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum has been given an experimental COVID vaccine.
The UAE is advancing its preliminary coronavirus immunization campaign using the vaccine made by China's National Pharmaceutical Group, or Sinopharm.
The Dubai ruler is the latest UAE official to take part in clinical tests. Two vaccines are in advanced phase trials in the Emirates, one manufactured by Sinopharm and the Russian Sputnik-V.
While being administered with the vaccine, the prime minister said he wished everyone "safety and great health and we're proud of our teams who have worked relentlessly to make the vaccine available in the UAE. The future will always be better in the UAE," Arab News quoted him as saying in a Twitter post.
UAE Foreign Minister sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan was given the COVID vaccine earlier as was Minister for Cabinet Affairs Mohammed Abdullah al-Gergawi. UAE's front-line medical workers also got shots, local news reported.
The vaccine is compatible with the UAE's health regulations, Health Minister Abdul Rahman Al-Owais, the first to be given the shot, said. As of Nov. 3, the UAE had 136,149 COVID infections and 497 fatalities, data from the Johns Hopkins University showed.
Dozens of companies, from pharmaceutical startups to Big Pharma, are scrambling to produce a safe and effective vaccine. The World Health Organization has identified 42 potential treatments in advance phases of clinical tests.
Some companies are close to announcing their final-phase results, with British and Canadian health regulators already evaluating early data on some therapies.
The Sinopharm COVID vaccine is in final stage tests in Jordan, Egypt and Bahrain.
