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UAE says vaccine made in China is 86% effective
Canada second nation to approve Pfizer jab; Two cases of allergy to the vaccine in UK.
The United Arab Emirates on Wednesday officially registered a Covid-19 vaccine produced by Chinese drug giant Sinopharm, saying it was 86% effective according to analysis of third-phase trials.
The health ministry “has announced the official registration” of the vaccine, state news agency WAM said. The vaccine has been undergoing third-phase trials in the Emirates since July, and it was approved for emergency use for health care workers in September.
Canadian health authorities on Wednesday approved a vaccine manufactured by Pfizer and BioNTech, and the inoculation programme could commence as early as next week.
Canada is set to receive up to 249,000 doses this month followed by 4 million more.
Early recipients of the shots will include health care workers and residents of long term care homes, considered most at risk.
Those with a history of allergic reaction should not take the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, UK health officials said on Wednesday, after two persons who received it on Tuesday as part of a mass vaccination campaign showed strong adverse reaction.
“We’re looking at two case reports of allergic reactions,’’ Dr June Raine, head of the UK’s medical regulatory agency told a Parliamentary committee.
“We know from the very extensive clinical trials that this wasn’t a feature.”
The new advice is that people with a significant history of allergy to vaccines and drugs should not have the vaccine,
she said. A health official’s warning that anyone getting vaccinated with Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine should give up alcohol for almost two months has caused a backlash among some Russians who call the request unreasonable.
