Written By: Longjam Dineshwori | Updated : November 5, 2020 10:44 AM IST
The Phase 3 clinical trial of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine began on July 27.
After Russia and China, Bahrain has also granted emergency approval for a novel coronavirus vaccine before finishing safety and efficacy tests. In fact, the state has started inoculating healthcare workers with a vaccine developed by Chinese state-owned pharmaceutical firm Sinopharm, which is in Phase III trials in the UAE, Egypt, Bahrain and Jordan.
Bahrain's Health Minister Faeqa bint Saeed Al Saleh claimed that the use of the vaccine complies with the country's regulations on exceptional licensing in emergency cases, the state news agency BNA reported.
The minister added that the vaccine has been found safe and effective in Phase I and Phase II clinical trials and that Phase III trials were going smoothly and without serious side effects.
Till now, 7,770 people have volunteered in the Phase III trials in Bahrain and have received a second dose, she informed.
In August, Russia became the first country in the world to grant regulatory approval to a COVID-19 vaccine, dubbed Sputnik V. It is the vaccine developed by Moscow's Gamaleya Institute and marketed by the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), the country's sovereign wealth fund.
The country launched a mass innoculation scheme using Sputnik V after less than two months of human testing. The move stirred a debate in the scientific community regarding the potential risks of vaccinating people before formal tests for efficacy and safety are finished. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin maintained that the shot is safe for use.
Sputnik V is based on a platform of human adenoviral vectors, which is designed to deliver a gene from the SARS-CoV-2 virus into the body and trick it into producing antibodies against the infection.
The RDIF has already submitted application to the World Health Organization (WHO) for an emergency use listing and prequalification of Sputnik V vaccine. With this, Russia has become one of the first countries to apply to WHO for prequalification of a vaccine against the novel coronavirus infection.
The WHO's emergency use listing will enable the vaccine to become available globally at a faster rate.
Lat month, Russia registered its second coronavirus vaccine, dubbed EpiVacCorona, developed by the Vektor State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology. The vaccine is planned to be introduced into civil circulation during January 2021, according to data from the vaccine registration certificate published in the state registry of medicines.
In September, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorised similar emergency use of the vaccine candidate developed by Sinopharm's China National Biotec Group (CNBG). This vaccine is currently in Phase III trials in more than 10 countries, including the UAE.
China in July authorized the emergency use of three vaccines, including the Sinopharm one, to frontline workers, including medical staff treating virus patients, and to border officials.
The government is offering experimental jabs to employees of state-owned companies, and students heading overseas to study as well.
China maintains that giving experimental coronavirus vaccines to people outside of clinical trials is justified given the risk of Covid-19 returning through its borders and the lack of any significant side-effects so far from the shots.
