A total of 674 children have so far participated in a study to determine the effectiveness of the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine in children aged three to 17 years.
The children participated with full parental consent in the immune bridge study, and will be among a total of 900 participants, the Abu Dhabi Media Office announced on Tuesday.
The UAE is the first country in the Middle East and North Africa region to study the impact of a COVID-19 vaccine on young children. The project is being undertaken under the supervision of the UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) and the Abu Dhabi Department of Health (DoH).
Other vaccine manufacturing countries, such as China, the US, UK and India, have also begun conducting clinical trials for this group over the past few months.
The study aims to monitor children’s immune response to the Sinopharm vaccine for children of different nationalities, in preparation to vaccinate children in the near future. Each child is being closely monitored, with their safety the most important concern of the study, health authorities announced earlier this month.