UAE covid-19 vaccine: 31K volunteers vaccinated in phase 3; registrations closed

News Network
August 31, 2020

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Abu Dhabi, Aug 31: The first Phase lll trials of an inactivated vaccine for Covid-19 in the United Arab Emirates are among the largest in the world in volunteer recruitment having reached 31,000 vaccinated volunteers from more than 120 nationalities in only six weeks.

The speed and efficiency of volunteer registration, screening and vaccination is setting new global benchmarks for the 4Humanity trials of the inactivated vaccine developed by Sinopharm CNBG.

The trials 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.

As the trials move forward 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.

Registrations closed

Reaching this volunteer milestone means that the 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.

The Department of Health, Abu Dhabi has confirmed that there are now sufficient numbers of volunteers required to complete the clinical trial so no new registrations will be accepted effective from Sunday, August 30.

Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Hamed, Chairman of DoH, said: "This achievement would not have been possible without the support of our wise leadership and its continuous support of scientific research in the healthcare sector. 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."

On behalf of the Department of Health - Abu Dhabi, Al Hamed extended his gratitude to the volunteers. He also praised the efforts of the medical staff of SEHA during the past period and their tireless work to achieve this goal.

The DoH said that it will continue to follow up on all volunteers according to approved protocols for this study through follow-up calls or through direct interviews by the medical team In celebration of this national achievement, the MOHAP, the Department of Health - Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi Health Services Company, Sinopharm and G42 Healthcare have extended their gratitude to all volunteers for their service for humanity and the work of the clinical and administrative and technical staff.

Commenting on the achievement of securing over 31,000 volunteers, 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 per cent 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.

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News Network
November 4,2024

In a tragic turn of events, a young spectator lost his life during a bull-taming event, Kobbari Hori, at Chigalli in Mundgod taluk, Uttara Kannada, on Saturday. 

Parameshwar Siddappa Harijan, aged 22, was fatally gored by a marauding bull during the event, which had drawn large crowds as part of the Deepavali festival celebrations.

With thousands of spectators lining the path to witness the action, the event took a horrific turn when the bull charged directly at Parameshwar, inflicting severe injuries. 

Despite efforts to rush him to the hospital, Parameshwar tragically succumbed to his wounds on the way.

In response to the fatal accident, another bull-taming event scheduled for the evening in Mundgod town was promptly cancelled, as shock and grief swept through the community following the heartbreaking incident.

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News Network
November 12,2024

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The UN humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon has warned that the “picture of life in Lebanon remains grim,” highlighting an "alarming" level of human suffering and significant humanitarian consequences due to the ongoing Israeli carnage.

Imran Riza, the UN Deputy Special Coordinator and Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon (UNSCOL), provided a stark overview of the Arab country's dire circumstances in a statement released on Monday.

“The current picture of life in Lebanon remains grim. Yesterday, airstrikes reportedly killed 23 people, including seven children, in the village of Aalmat in Mount Lebanon,” Riza said on X.

An airstrike in the city of Tyre on the same day resulted in the tragic deaths of five siblings from a single family, all of whom had special needs, according to his statement.

He added that in the last week, Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 241 individuals and left 642 others injured in Lebanon, as reported by the Ministry of Health.

“In the past month, more than 185,000 people have fled their homes in their search for safety within the country, bringing the total to over 870,000 people internally displaced,” Riza said

The UN official highlighted that numerous individuals, including the elderly and those with health issues, are staying behind while witnessing the ruins of their ancestral homes.

He urged for the swift safeguarding of civilian people and infrastructure, emphasizing the necessity to uphold international humanitarian law and end the ongoing violence.

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that Israeli forces bombed a house in the town of Maydoun in Bekaa on Monday night, killing three people and destroying the house.

Earlier, Israel bombed the northern town of Ain Yaaqoub, killing at least 14 people.

The killings came as Israeli military continued to pound Lebanon, bombing shops selling electrical appliances in the southern city of Tyre and carrying out air raids on the towns of Shamshtar in eastern Baalbek and Roumine in southern Nabatieh.

Lebanon’s Ministry of Health said Israeli attacks killed at least 54 people across the country on Monday.

Israel’s merciless attacks continue despite calls from the UN Security Council for an immediate ceasefire and directives from the International Court of Justice urging measures to prevent genocide and alleviate the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and Lebanon.

In Lebanon, at least 3,243 people have been killed and 14,134 others wounded in Israeli attacks since the war on Gaza began on October 7, 2023.

The Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah opened a support front for Palestinians in Gaza only a day after the Israeli regime unleashed its genocidal war on the besieged territory.

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News Network
November 10,2024

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The media office in the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli regime has been waging a genocidal war since last October, says as many as 188 Palestinian journalists have been killed since the onset of the brutal military onslaught.

The office provided the figure on Saturday, naming four journalists as the most recent victims of the onslaught.

It identified the foursome as Zahraa Mohammad Abu Sukheil, Ahmad Mohammad Abu Sukheil, Mustafa Khadr Bahar, and Abdel Rahman Khadr Bahar.

The office said it “strongly condemns the targeting, killing, and assassination of Palestinian journalists by the Israeli occupation and holds it fully responsible for committing this heinous crime.”

“We call on the international community, international organizations, and those involved in journalistic work worldwide to take action against the occupation, pursue it in international courts for its ongoing crimes, and pressure it to halt the genocide and the targeted killings of Palestinian journalists,” it said.

Earlier in the day, the office said the Israeli regime had bombed the tents sheltering journalists and displaced persons at the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Hospital in the city of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza for the ninth consecutive time.

The atrocity that claimed the lives of two people and injured 26 others came as part of “the genocidal crimes committed by the Israeli occupation army against hospitals, civilians, and displaced persons,” it said.

The media office held the regime and the United States, its biggest ally, as well as other countries aiding the genocide fully responsible for such systematic crimes.

At least 43,552 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed and 102,765 others wounded since the launch of the war that followed a retaliatory operation by Gaza’s resistance groups.

The fatalities include 44 people, who were killed across the coastal sliver, in the most recent phase of the military onslaught.

As many as 24 of the victims were killed in the northern part of the territory, where the regime has markedly intensified its deadly attacks for weeks.

They included an eight-year-old child and a five-year-old one, who lost their lives after Israeli warplanes targeted a group of minors filling up jerry cans with water alongside their mother at the Jabalia Refugee camp.

Gaza’s heath ministry, meanwhile, said a number of victims remained under the rubble and in the streets following Israeli airstrikes, saying ambulances and civil defense teams could not reach them due to the sheer extent of the destruction caused by the raids and obstruction caused by the regime.

Also on Saturday, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report, a United Nations-backed assessment, warned that famine was looming in northern Gaza amid escalated Israeli aggression and the regime’s near-total siege of the targeted areas.

The alert from the Famine Review Committee warned of "an imminent and substantial likelihood of famine occurring, due to the rapidly deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip."

On October 17, the body projected that the number of people in Gaza facing "catastrophic" food insecurity between November and April 2025 would reach 345,000, or 16 percent of the population.

The IPC report classified that figure as Phase 5 -- a situation when "starvation, death, destitution, and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels are evident."

The Israeli military, however, questioned the report's credibility.

"To date, all assessments by the IPC have proven incorrect and inconsistent with the situation on the ground," the army said in a statement, denouncing "partial, biased data and superficial sources with vested interests."

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