UAE launches Sinopharm vaccine trial for children under 18

Some members of Abu Dhabi’s ruling family are participating in a trial administering China’s Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine to children aged 3-17, the emirate’s media office said.

The trial will monitor the immune response of 900 children “in preparation to vaccinate children in the near future”, Abu Dhabi Media Office said in a Twitter post on Wednesday.

Sheikh Theyab bin Mohammed, a son of the United Arab Emirate’s de facto ruler and Abu Dhabi’s crown prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, accompanied his children, nieces and nephews to participate in the immune bridge study, it said.

Read: UAE, Bahrain make Pfizer/BioNTech shot available to those who got Sinopharm vaccine

The UAE in May approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for emergency use in children aged 12-15. Dubai, the second-largest member of the UAE federation, started inoculating that age group this month.

The UAE, which has among the world’s highest immunisation rates, on Wednesday registered 2,011 new coronavirus infections to take its total to 603,961 cases with 1,738 deaths. It does not provide a breakdown for each of its seven emirates.

The Gulf state led Phase III clinical trials of the vaccine produced by China’s state-owned drugmaker Sinopharm and has started manufacturing it under a joint venture between Sinopharm and Abu Dhabi-based technology company Group 42.