Sinopharm: UAE rolls out vaccine to children aged 3-17

The UAE will start providing China’s Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine to children aged 3-17, the UAE government said on Twitter.

It cited the Health Ministry as saying the decision comes after clinical trials and extensive evaluations, Reuters reported.

Authorities said in June the trial would monitor the immune response of 900 children.

The UAE, which has among the world’s highest immunization rates, was already providing the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children aged 12-15.

The Health Ministry said on Sunday that 78.95 percent of the UAE population of roughly 9 million had received one vaccine dose while 70.57 percent had been fully vaccinated.

The UAE registered 1,519 new coronavirus infections on Sunday to take its total to 682,377 cases and 1,951 deaths. It does not provide a breakdown for each of its seven emirates.

It led Phase III clinical trials of the vaccine produced by China’s state-owned drugmaker Sinopharm and has started manufacturing it under a joint venture between Sinopharm and Abu Dhabi-based technology company Group 42.