Officially... Kuwait, Bahrain Register COVID-19 Vaccines

On Sunday, Kuwait and Bahrain officially approved the use of anti-coronavirus vaccines in an attempt to curb the spread of the pandemic.

Kuwait Ministry of Health (MoH) has authorized the emergency use of Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine.

This decision came after the approval of the joint technical committee of the medicine registration and supervision department, and the public health department for the evaluation and registration of vaccines, according to the "KUNA" news agency.

On his part, Dr. Abdullah Al-Bader, Assistant Undersecretary for Pharmaceutical and Food Supervision stressed that the committee's decision followed an intensive review of the safety and quality specifications of the vaccine.

Moreover, he added that MoH will monitor the safety of the vaccine after its use, as well as following up  information and data about its efficacy, and quality locally and globally, to ensure the well-being of the public.

On the other hand, the National Health Regulatory Authority (NHRA) announced on Sunday the official registration of the Chinese-made Sinopharm Group Co Ltd. vaccine against the coronavirus.

In a statement, the NHRA said that the outcomes of the clinical trials' 3rd phase showed an 86% efficacy rate, a 99% seroconversion rate of neutralizing antibody and 100% effectiveness in preventing moderate and severe cases of Covid-19.

"About 700 Bahraini volunteers participated in phase III clinical trials," the statement read.