On Saturday, UAE’s Abu Dhabi Health Services Company, SEHA, shared its Covid-19 vaccine trial, which is in phase three, with John Rakolta Jr., the US Ambassador to the UAE. Besides Ambassador Rakolta, the US delegation included Alison Dilworth, Economic Counselor, and Susan Holmes, Economic Associate. They were attended by Dr. Marwan Al Kaabi, Acting Group Chief Operations Officer, SEHA and Dr. Nawal Ahmed Mohamed Al Kaabi, Chief Medical Officer, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City and Chairperson of the National COVID-19 Clinical Management Committee.

As part of the briefing, UAE officials gave US delegation the tour of SEHA’s specialised centre conducting the clinical trials at Abu Dhabi Exhibition Centre, ADNEC, which is run by the country’s expert medical practitioners. The vaccine’s clinical trials have been a collaborative work of the Department of Health - Abu Dhabi and SEHA. Besides, the trials are in line with the Emitates’ vision and commitment to overcome the ongoing pandemic calamity.

Dr. Nawal Al Kaabi said, "Under the guidance and direction of the UAE’s leadership, SEHA has been fully equipped with all the necessary resources and wholly empowered to successfully complete the third phase of the COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials. We are proud of the progress of the trials, and the UAE’s role in providing a vaccine to combat the novel coronavirus, and are honoured to share this progress with John Rakolta Jr., the US Ambassador to the UAE.”

She added that the successful development of the phase three trials led to the landmark step in the country’s journey towards developing an effective vaccine. She said that as part of the recent success in vaccine’s clinal trial, UAE authorities gave its first dose to frontline healthcare professionals in the UAE, to test its effectiveness. Al Kaab highlighted that this process was like “achieving yet another milestone for the history books and setting a new benchmark in the world’s response to the virus."

"We would like to extend our deepest gratitude to the community of the nation for their support in responding to the calls of the UAE government, volunteering, and their dedication in advancing the third phase of the clinical trials, as part of the 4Humanity campaign. They have been pivotal in accomplishing these outcomes and achieving tremendous successes in the world’s first clinical trials of the COVID-19 inactivated vaccine," she continued.

UAE has played a significant role in its global fight against the coronavirus pandemic ranging from strict adherence to precautionary measures, sending medical and basic supplies to multiple nations across the world, and rigorously conducting medical research at par with World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines to take the world a step closer to a better and safe Covid-19 vaccine.

Besides, the Arab nation has been facilitating and aiding various research programs to invent medical breakthroughs to help the world in the ongoing trying times. Two weeks ago Abu Dhabi-based Khalifa University announced that it has developed one-of-its-kind portable testing kit which can detect coronavirus at a lesser cost in the record time of 35 minutes.

UAE’s Khalifa University, in collaboration with University of Salerno, Italy, also invented a fully ‘biodegradable’, ‘biocompatible’, environment-friendly and novel anti-viral adaptive face mask. The prototype masks were called NavaMASK. The team of researchers, who have already filed for its patent, said that has been built with nanofibers which have strong anti-microbial properties.

WAM