Bahrain granted emergency use authorisation to a Covid-19 vaccine developed by French biotech company Valneva on Tuesday.
Valneva expects to deliver the first shipments of its VLA2001 vaccine to the kingdom at the end of March, the company said.
Bahrain had signed a purchase deal for one million doses in December last year.
“As the only dual-adjuvanted, inactivated Covid-19 vaccine approved in Bahrain, VLA2001 will provide a differentiated vaccine option to the Bahraini population and medical community,” Valneva chief executive Thomas Lingelbach said.
“We are looking forward to addressing the evolution of the pandemic in the Middle East and starting to deliver our first vaccines in the region.”
An adjuvant is a vaccine ingredient that that helps create a stronger immune response. An inactivated vaccine consisting of virus particles grown and then killed to destroy disease-producing capacity.
Last month, Valneva said it expected to start shipments of its vaccine in Europe soon after it is recommended for conditional approval at the end of March.
The company said it had received a list of questions in an initial regulatory assessment.
The VLA2001 vaccine is currently the only whole virus, inactivated, adjuvanted Covid-19 vaccine in clinical development in Europe.
Earlier this year, Bahrain approved Pfizer’s Paxlovid anti-viral Covid-19 drug for emergency use. It has been hailed a “major breakthrough” in the country's fight against the pandemic.
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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Dr Amal Khalid Alias revealed a recent case of a woman with daughters, who specifically wanted a boy.
A semen analysis of the father showed abnormal sperm so the couple required IVF.
Out of 21 eggs collected, six were unused leaving 15 suitable for IVF.
A specific procedure was used, called intracytoplasmic sperm injection where a single sperm cell is inserted into the egg.
On day three of the process, 14 embryos were biopsied for gender selection.
The next day, a pre-implantation genetic report revealed four normal male embryos, three female and seven abnormal samples.
Day five of the treatment saw two male embryos transferred to the patient.
The woman recorded a positive pregnancy test two weeks later.
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Fuel economy, combined 9.2L / 100km
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