Bahrain Becomes Second Country To Approve Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine

Bahrain became the second country after UK to approve a COVID 19 vaccine.

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Bahrain has become the second country to approve emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine after United Kingdom gave its approval on 2 December, AFP reported.

The UK was the first country to approve the Pfizer vaccine as well as the first western country to approve a vaccine against COVID-19.

While UK on Wednesday approved the COVID-19 vaccine to start rolling out from next week onwards, Bahrain’s capital Manama did not specify when it would begin the rollout. 

According to a statement carried by the official Bahrain News Agency (BNA),CEO of the National Health Regulatory Authority, Mariam al-Jalahma said that the approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine will add a further important layer to the country’s national Covid-19 response, according to AFP.

Bahrain had approved the use of China's Sinopharm vaccine on frontline healthcare workers in November.

Vaccine 95 Percent Effective in Final Trials, No Safety Concerns: Pfizer

United States’ Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech, according to Reuters, reported final trial results on 18 November that showed that their vaccine candidate was 95 percent effective in preventing COVID-19.

“The Phase 3 study of our COVID-19 vaccine candidate has met all primary efficacy endpoints. The study reached 170 confirmed cases of COVID19, with the vaccine candidate BNT162b2 demonstrating 95 percent efficacy beginning 28 days after the first dose,” a statement from the company read, according to ANI.

Bahrain has a population of 1.6 million and has recorded more than 87,000 coronavirus cases, including 341 deaths. More than 85,000 people have recovered from the virus so far.

(With inputs from AFP)