AstraZeneca praises UAE for vaccination rollout and

AstraZeneca praises UAE for vaccination rollout and testing strategy

Qutaiba Al Manaseer

AGovernment Affairs Director from AstraZeneca, the developer of one of the leading COVID-19 vaccines in partnership with Oxford University, has praised the UAE’s vaccine rollout program by highlighting the work done by health authorities in the region to make vaccines available as soon as possible.

To date, over 12.1 million vaccination doses have been administered in the UAE with a vaccine distribution rate of over 124 doses per 100 people, with approximately 70,000 doses of the vaccine administered daily. In terms of population vaccinated, the UAE is currently fourth after the Seychelles, Maldives and Israel.

Qutaiba Al Manaseer, Government Affairs Director, Middle East and Africa, AstraZeneca, said: Middle East countries have been successful in their efforts to make vaccines available as soon as possible. Health authorities across the region have developed agile regulatory systems and adapted rolling review strategies to ensure a fast but thorough regulatory process.

“Specifically, the UAE ranks among the best in the world in terms of the speed of its vaccination programme. This is attributed to strong efforts from key senior stakeholders who worked collaboratively with health authorities to deliver impactful campaigns that are aimed at increasing the trust in the safety of vaccines available in the country, and uptake from the local population,” added Al Manaseer.

The comments were made ahead of the inaugural Pharma and Drug Discovery Conference were held on the opening day of Arab Health, which took place from 21-24 2021 June at the Dubai World Trade Centre. During the conference, Mr Al Manaseer presented the session Oxford University and AstraZeneca partnership towards broad and equitable access to COVID-19 Vaccine.

"From the start of the pandemic, AstraZeneca's approach has focused on partnering with scientists, governments, multilateral organisations and manufacturers to establish agreements for the development and supply of our vaccine, and to fight the pandemic, together,” said Al Manaseer. “At AstraZeneca, we were proud to be the first global pharmaceutical company to join COVAX in June 2020. Through the initiative, we are partnering with CEPI, Gavi, the WhO, UNICEF and PAHO and our subscribing partner, the Serum Institue of India, to enable equitable and global access to our vaccine. Together, we have already delivered 37 million doses of our vaccine, including critical deliveries to countries in the Middle East. It is only through effective partnerships that reaching these milestones was made possible," he added.

Among the experts presenting at the Pharma & Drug Discovery Conference, are Dr Yang Xiaoming, Chairman of the China National Biotech Group (CNBG), Prof Graham Ball, Professor of Bioinformatics, Nottingham and Trent University, UK, and Prof Mirza Baig, Professor and Chairman of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacotherapeutics, Dubai Pharmacy College for Girls. ASTRAZENECA HAS APPLAUDED THE UAE’S IMPACTFUL VACCINATION CAMPAIGNS WHICH HAS CREATED INCREASED TRUST AND EARLY UPTAKE RESULTING IN OVER 12.1 MILLION DOSES IN THE UAE TO DATE.

TO DATE, OVER 12.1 MILLION VACCINATION DOSES HAVE BEEN ADMINISTERED IN THE UAE WITH A VACCINE DISTRIBUTION RATE OF OVER 124 DOSES PER 100 PEOPLE, WITH APPROXIMATELY 70,000 DOSES OF THE VACCINE ADMINISTERED DAILY.

CAGS Conducts Webinar on Big Data

Saudis approve Moderna as 4th COVID-19 vaccine

The Centre for Arab Genomic Studies (CAGS) conducted the fourth webinar in its monthly webinar series. Yesterday’s program focused on Big Data in Genomics, and was attended by more than 450 participants from all over the world.

The webinar began with a talk by Dr. Julia Baptista, Clinical Scientist at the Exeter Genomics Laboratory, in which she discussed genomic testing for acutely ill children with rare disease and the UK national rapid exome sequencing service. Dr. Shareef Nahas, Senior Director at the Rady Children’s Institute for Genomic Medicine discussed a system for delivery of rapid genome sequencing-enabled management of childhood genetic diseases. Lastly, Dr. Andreas Henschel, Associate Professor at the Khalifa University discussed genotype-phenotype predictions using genomic data science: Enabling machine learning for understudied populations. The webinar was moderated by Dr. Aashish Jha, Assistant Professor, NYUAD.

Dr. Mahmoud Taleb Al Ali, Director of CAGS said, "Just as important as the generation of big data, is the sharing of this data with other researchers in the field via public databases. CAGS is proud to have been one of the first CAGS IS PROUD TO HAVE BEEN ONE OF THE FIRST ORGANIZATIONS IN THE ARAB WORLD TO RECOGNIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF GENETIC DATA AND TO ESTABLISH A PUBLIC DATABASE TO MAINTAIN THE DATA.

SAUDI ARABIA HAS ALREADY GRANTED AUTHORIZATION FOR THE USE OF THE PFIZER-BIONTECH, ASTRAZENCA, AND JOHNSON & JOHNSON VACCINES. organizations in the Arab World to recognize the importance of genetic data and to establish a public database to maintain the data. I take this opportunity to invite genetic researchers in the region to contribute their data into the CTGA Database, for the benefit of the community."

Choosing this topic for this webinar comes within the framework of the UAE’s strategy in addressing genetic diseases. Especially through projects such as the Emirati Genome Program, which aims to develop a genetic map for individuals and integrate it with health data in order to provide distinguished healthcare to citizens based on the results of the genetic sequence examination.

Saudi Arabia has authorized the use of the Moderna vaccine against COVID-19, making it the fourth vaccine approved by the kingdom to fight the highly contagious disease.

The Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) said it had approved Moderna after the manufacturing company of the vaccine had applied for its registration.

The SDFA approval was based on the data provided by the US-based company. The SDFA said that based on its approval, health authorities in the Kingdom will embark on procedures for importing the Moderna jabs. Consequently, the SDFA will analyze samples from each shipment before allowing its use to ensure quality.

Saudi Arabia has already granted authorization for the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZenca, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines.

In mid-December, the Kingdom kicked off mass vaccinations against COVID-19. Over 19 million doses have since been administered through 587 inoculation centers across the country, according to the latest figures from the Health Ministry.