China’s Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine is expected to be given to Saudi patients after passing the third stage clinical trials but remains on hold until approved by the Saudi Food and Drug Authority.
An agreement with China’s Sinovac Biotech was signed by King Abdullah International Medical Research Center (KAIMRC) to obtain a COVID-19 vaccine to be provided to around 7,000 health workers. The vaccine passed the third level of trials at the King Abdullah Center for the National Guard.
Aref Al-Amri, Head of the Department of Biomolecules and Cytogenetics at the regional laboratory in Riyadh said, “So far there have been no health complications or allergic reactions in those who have tried the vaccine, except for a fever or mild migraine, but that is normal when vaccination is administered with any virus”.
KAIMRC’s vaccine unit was among 10 global bodies selected to test and evaluate multiple vaccines as part of an international partnership between the World Health Organization (WHO), CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations) and NIBSC (National Institute for Biological Standards and Control).
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia reported 20 new deaths associated with COVID-19, bringing the number of death to 5,383. In the Kingdom, there were 398 new cases reported, which means 346,880 individuals have caught the disease. There are 8,088 active cases as of now, of which 766 are in a critical condition.
According to the Health Ministry, 53 of the newly recorded cases were in Riyadh, while Makkah recorded 32 and Jeddah 37. The Ministry also announced that 404 additional patients had recovered from the disease, taking the overall recovery to 333,409 in the country.
Over the last day, 56,255 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests were conducted, taking the total number of tests to more than 8 million.
Recently, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Health Dr. Tawfiq Al-Rabiah stated that the country will soon approve a coronavirus vaccine which is found to be safe and effective for the people.
