In a historic move in the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has announced the commencement of the manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccine in the country. The vaccine, called Hayat-Vax, is the first indigenous COVID-19 vaccine in the region that will be manufactured by a newly created joint venture (JV) between Sinopharm CNBG, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world that has supplied over 100 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine globally, and G42, the leading technology company based in Abu Dhabi.

The announcement was witnessed by Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and Wang Yi, State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs of China, in the presence of dignitaries from the two nations.

The occasion also served to launch a purpose-built research and development hub for life sciences, biotechnology and vaccine production – the first-of-its-kind in the Arab world – that is being set up in KIZAD, the integrated trade, logistics and industrial hub in Abu Dhabi. Last year, G42 and Sinopharm CNBG successfully collaborated on conducting 4Humanity, the world’s first phase III clinical trial of inactivated vaccines across the Pan Arab region with over 43,000 volunteers participating from over 125 nationalities.

The new vaccine plant in KIZAD will become operational this year and over its phased development will have a production capacity of 200 million doses per annum across three filling lines and five automated packaging lines. The JV is already producing Hayat-Vax with its partner, Julphar in UAE with an initial capacity of 2 million doses per month.