UAE’s COVID-19 vaccine in human trial stage, says health minister
- 14 Jul 2020
Gulf Today, Staff Reporter
The UAE government conducted a media briefing on the latest developments on the coronavirus. The government said a third phase trial has been approved by the Health Ministry to prepare a vaccine for the virus.
Minister of Health and Community Protection, Abdul Rahman Mohammed Al Owais said we have than 15,000 volunteers to conduct experiments, and the best scientific standards for medical studies will be followed and guaranteed.
Dr Amna Al Dahak Al Shamsi, Official spokesperson of the UAE Government and Muhammad Ahli, the spokesperson for the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority also took part in the media briefing.
Abdul Rahman Al-Owais said, “The methodology of the UAE continues to expand the scope of screening and survey investigations of coronavirus cases. The tests exceed the barrier of 4 million examinations nationwide.
Al Owais: The efforts of the UAE and its participation with the world in finding effective and radical solutions to the pandemic of Covid 19 are continuing through cooperation with various local and international parties.
Al Owais said, “A new achievement added to the health sector in the country, represented by the study of the third stage of a possible vaccine for COVID-19, on the approval of the Scientific Research Ethics Committee in Abu Dhabi.
Al Owais: A research study will be conducted on two types of vaccine in the third phase of the study and clinical trials, and all conditions and requirements for the safety of volunteer participants will be fulfilled.
Al Owais: We have more than 15,000 volunteers to conduct experiments, and the best scientific standards for medical studies will be followed and guaranteed. In the event that the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine are proven during this stage, then the examination is considered successful and the transition to the vaccine manufacturing stage is established.
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Mohamed Ahli said, “Launching the statistical platform for the data of the United Arab Emirates related to COVID-19 disease, which is a unified platform that brings together three parties, the Ministry of Health and Community Protection, the National Authority for Emergency, Crisis and Disaster Management, and the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority.
The platform displays the updated data and is managed according to a clear and specific methodology that adopts global best practices, and provides statistics and data that are updated periodically including the number of examinations that have been performed, the number of cases discovered, the number of active cases, healing cases, and the number of deaths.”
Mohamed Ahli also said, “The platform provides a set of graphs to display data according to different indicators, and an interactive map that allows users to identify the nearest health center.
The platform and the data can be accessed through the website http://fcsa.gov.ae/covid19/
And obtaining all the numbers and data that start from the date of discovering the first case in the country until today.
More than 13.01 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 568,973 have died, according to a tally. Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.
Meanwhile, the formation of key committees and the management of the country’s strategic stocks of food were two of the main topics on the table at the third meeting of the Emirates Food Security Council.
Chaired by Mariam Almheiri, Minister of State for Food and Water Security, the virtual event also assessed the latest trends driving the food security domain, reviewed the recommendations of the council’s first two meetings, and appraised the work of the Abu Dhabi Food Security Taskforce and the Dubai Food Security Committee in their efforts to address food supplies during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The meeting brought Almheiri together with council members representing the ministries of Economy, Climate Change and Environment, Energy and Infrastructure, Health and Prevention, and Education, as well as the National Emergency, Crisis, and Disasters Management Authority.