Covid-19: United Arab Emirates to produce Chinese vaccine Sinopharm

Starting in April, one of the UAE's leading pharmaceutical companies, the Julphar Company, will manufacture the vaccine developed by Chinese laboratory Sinopharm.

REUTERS - SEBASTIAN CASTANEDA

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2 min

The United Arab Emirates announced on Sunday March 28 that they will produce the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine in their territory.

With this agreement, the monarchy thus becomes the first Gulf country to set up a production site for the coronavirus vaccine. 

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With our correspondent in Dubai

,

Nicolas Keraudren

This is a sign of the UAE's growing role in China's diplomacy in the Middle East.

Starting in April, one of the UAE's leading pharmaceutical companies, the Julphar Company, will manufacture the vaccine developed by Chinese laboratory Sinopharm.

It will then be exported by authorities throughout the region.

Long before this announcement, the United Arab Emirates had already made this serum one of the central parts of their vaccine strategy against Covid-19.

After entering the trial phase last summer, authorities in the Gulf Monarchy approved its use for the general public on December 9.

This Chinese vaccine is now available free of charge to all citizens and residents of the country, regardless of age or health.

The Emirates have also approved the vaccine from the American-German duo Pfizer / BioNtech as well as the British vaccines from the AstraZeneca laboratory and the University of Oxford.

In total in the Emirates, nearly 9 million doses, all vaccines combined, have already been administered.

The country is thus the second in the world where one vaccinates the most in proportion to the population after

Israel

.

More than 388,000 cases of coronavirus have been recorded in the United Arab Emirates since the start of the pandemic, including 1,481 deaths.

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To listen: Covid-19: large-scale vaccination in the United Arab Emirates

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  • United Arab Emirates

  • Coronavirus

  • Vaccines

  • Health and medicine

  • China