Thirty-one-thousand volunteers from more than 120 nationalities have taken part in the first Phase III trials of an inactivated vaccine for Covid-19 in the UAE over the past six weeks.

The 4Humanity trials of the inactivated vaccine, developed by Sinopharm CNBG, are being managed by Abu-Dhabi based G42 Healthcare in partnership with the Department of Health - Abu Dhabi, the UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHaP) and Abu Dhabi Health Services Company.

Thousands of volunteers have already received their second shot of the vaccine and will continue to undergo regular monitoring and health checks, with full ongoing support provided by the health services to ensure their wellbeing.

Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Hamed, chairman of DoH, said: "This indeed is an accomplishment in the field of healthcare and will place our country at the forefront of global research efforts to confront this pandemic."

Vaccine centres at ADNEC and Al Qarain Center in Sharjah are now closed to new volunteers but remain open for individuals taking their second shot of the vaccine and for other health check-ups required as part of the programme per the approved protocols and timelines set for individual volunteers who are participating.

Minister of Health and Prevention, Abdul Rahman bin Mohammed Al Owais, said: "From the very outset the UAE leadership was totally committed to overcoming the Covid-19 pandemic through a global collaborative effort. The public-spirited nature of citizens and residents and their willingness to volunteer is a powerful endorsement of the proactive approach the UAE has taken in what is a world-leading inactivated vaccine trials programme.

"Everyone involved in the trials from the volunteers to the clinical and administrative staff can be enormously proud of what has been achieved already showing once again the sense of unity and shared purpose that has driven the nation for the past five decades."

The two inactivated vaccines were successful during both Phase 1 and Phase II of the trials without causing any side effects with 100 percent of the volunteers for these phases generating antibodies.

The eventual size and scale of the volunteer numbers will place the trial at par with globally acknowledged trial numbers for programmes of this kind that are typically around 45,000 or above.

The trial is part of a series of national initiatives to both foster population health and to enhance the UAE's medical research and development capabilities, including the local capacity to manufacture the vaccine.