The Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia, has reportedly announced that it will begin the third phase of clinical trials for a COVID-19 vaccine, as part of its cooperation with China’s CanSino Biologics Inc. The trials will be conducted in different countries, including Saudi Arabia, and will be applied to a large number of volunteers, as reported by the Saudi Press Agency.

The co-founder of CanSino had stated during the previous month that the company was in talks with Chile, Russia, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia for the launch of the third phase clinical trials of its vaccine candidate. CanSino’s potential vaccine uses adenovirus type-5 (Ad5), a harmless cold virus, that carries the genetic material from the coronavirus into the body.

The first stage of the clinical trial reportedly comprised a recombinant adenovirus type-5 vectored COVID-19 vaccine administered to a total of 108 volunteers in China during March. The later tests were conducted on 603 volunteers between April 11 and April 16. Both the stages were found to depict positive results with minimum side effects, stated a study published in The Lancet.

As reported, the third phase of the clinical trials will be conducted in Saudi Arabia comprising 5,000 healthy volunteers over the age of 18. The experiments will be carried out across the capital city of Riyadh, Dammam, and Mecca. As per sources, research teams will follow up with the participants after administering the dose in order to check the appearance of side effects. The follow up will be conducted via direct visits with the doctors who took part in the study.

Further, the UN Human Rights Council has lately emphasized the vitality of equitable and unhindered access to vaccines, diagnostics, and treatments, explaining that any vaccine developed against COVID-19 should be considered to be a global public good.

The death toll from COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia has reached 3,130 deaths, with the total number of active cases being 287,262.

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https://www.thekashmirmonitor.net/saudi-launches-clinical-trial-for-chinese-covid-19-vaccine/