In a major boost to the UAE's efforts to combat the Coronavirus pandemic, Abdul Rahman bin Mohammed Al Owais, Minister of Health and Prevention, announced that more than 10,000 volunteers have registered to be a part of the country’s Phase III clinical trials of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The UAE recently announced the starting of the Phase III clinical trial of an inactive COVID-19 vaccine. It is significantly expected to be available by the end of 2020 or early 2021 once all tests achieve success. The UAE health authorities associated with the clinical tests for the vaccine had stated that trials will be conducted on almost 15,000 volunteers, which will include both men and women from different nationalities.

Al Owais said that in less than 24 hours of launching the website for volunteer registration, as many as 5,000 people registered themselves for study. He went to add that on July 22 more than 10,000 volunteers applied to participate in the COVID-19 vaccine trial.

Speaking over the development, the health minister stated that the UAE is the appropriate country for carrying out the vaccine trials noting that it has more than 200 nationalities living in the country. He further asserted that the safety and health of the volunteers is the absolute priority of the health officials during the vaccine trials.

He later highlighted that all clinical trials are being performed in accordance with the rules and regulations of the country along with the strict international guidelines stipulated by the World Health Organisation.