Emirates to produce Chinese Sinopharm vaccine

The United Arab Emirates will begin producing the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine from April, helping the Gulf state accelerate plans to supply COVID-19 injections worldwide. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and China have launched a joint project to produce the Chinese vaccine, Emirati state news agency WAM reported on Sunday. The Arab country's foreign minister Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Sunday announced a project called 'UAE Life Sciences and Vaccine Production' between the UAE's G42 and China's Sinopharm CNBG. 

China is partnering with the UAE to produce millions of doses of its state-backed Sinopharm vaccine, in a deal that takes injection manufacturing overseas for the first time and deepens Beijing's influence in the Middle East. A newly formed joint venture between Sinopharm CNBG and Abu Dhabi-based G42 aims to produce up to 200 million doses a year at a plant that will come on stream this year, the companies said. Smaller-scale production has already started at an existing Gulf Pharmaceutical Industries PSC plant with a capacity of 2 million doses per month.

The UAE now becomes the first nation in the US-allied Gulf to establish a coronavirus vaccine production facility, boosting its efforts to become a supply hub for the Middle East and beyond. G42, which describes itself as an artificial intelligence and cloud computing company, helped implement trials of the Sinopharm vaccine in the country last year.

"The UAE and China today begin a new chapter in their historic and distinguished relations, under the title 'Strategic Partnership for Humanity'," Sheikh Abdullah said. "A partnership that sets an example to follow for collaboration between friendly nations in times of crisis. The joint project is an added value to the international efforts being made in the face of the COVID-19 crisis that has been affecting daily life around the world," he added.

Liu Jingzhen, president of Sinopharm, said the UAE and China were supporting global efforts to overcome the pandemic. "Today we are making great strides in the global battle against COVID-19," Liu said. "And this pioneering project is the fruit of close cooperation and strategic partnership between the UAE and China and their leading efforts in the fight against this crisis." "We are very proud of this partnership with G42. This project will play an important role in confronting the COVID-19 pandemic in the UAE, the Arab region and the entire world," he stressed.

Relations with China, a major customer for Gulf crude, have deepened beyond trade through the pandemic. The UAE supplied equipment to Wuhan during the early days of the health crisis. Since then, Chinese companies have collaborated with the UAE on mass tests and vaccine launches.

The foreign minister said the two countries are now exploring ways to work together to combat the pandemic in the Middle East and Africa, including the establishment of an international mechanism to facilitate the transport of passengers and goods. "We will work to accelerate the bilateral production of vaccines in a way that will go a long way in making sure that vaccines are available and affordable," he told the UAE's state-run media agency on Saturday.

The vaccine is by far the most widely used in the UAE's nationwide effort to fight COVID-19 which has helped the country administer 81 doses per 100 people, second only to Israel among the most immunised nations. But experts have criticised the opacity surrounding Sinopharm's launch, citing a lack of detailed explanations of efficacy results or peer-reviewed data. The United Arab Emirates earlier this month began offering a third "booster" dose to those who fail to generate sufficient antibodies after two doses of the vaccine.

Four vaccines are currently approved in the UAE: Pfizer/Biotech, AstraZeneca, Sinopharm and Russia's Sputnik V drug. The UAE began its vaccination campaign on 9 December, the day after the UK became the first country to start immunising, making it one of the highest vaccinated countries in the world.