Abu Dhabi (Web Desk): A new factory in Abu Dhabi will start manufacturing Sinopharm’s COVID-19 vaccine later this year.
The production will be under a joint venture between the Chinese pharmaceutical giant and Abu Dhabi-based technology company Group 42 (G42).
The new plant, which is being built in the Khalifa Industrial Zone of Abu Dhabi (KIZAD), will have a production capacity of 200 million doses a year with three filling lines and five automated packaging lines, a statement from the joint venture said on Monday.
The vaccine will be called Hayat-Vax when manufactured in the UAE but is the same inactivated vaccine from the Beijing Institute of Biological Product (BiBP), a unit of Sinopharm’s China National Biotec Group (CNBG), that the UAE approved for general use in December.
“Hayat-Vax is the first COVID-19 vaccine to be produced in the Arab world,” said a statement.
The UAE approved the vaccine for front-line workers in September before making it available to the general public in December.