Volunteers across the world who participate in controlled medical experiments – that aim to find cures and root out disease – value human life. They prioritise public good over concerns about the risks, however small, to their own health.
In Abu Dhabi, the first globally recognised, last-phase clinical trial for a Covid-19 vaccine, that involves the participation of 15,000 volunteers, has begun.
Phase-III clinical trials typically happen after a drug proves to be effective on a small number of people.
But half a year into the pandemic, with 14 million cases of the virus and 600,000 dead, timetables for clinical trials are being compressed as the world needs, more than anything, a vaccine to stop the ravages of Covid-19.
Usually Phase-III clinical trials can take years but for this vaccine, the medical community is looking at a period of mere months.
Given that the UAE has been a model of testing efficacy, with over 4.18 million tests done, the country's clinical trials evoke a sense of optimism.
Clinical trials for two Covid-19 vaccines are under way in the UAE and the volunteers, crucial to this mammoth task, are set to take the shots, as The National has reported. Already, since Thursday when registrations for the trial opened, 5,000 people living in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain signed up in the first 24 hours. Working with a Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm, the UAE will now test two vaccine strains and a placebo.
It shows deep commitment on the part of volunteers to first sign up, meet the medical requirements, be injected with one or a combination of possible vaccines and placebos, be constantly monitored and also keep a vaccine journal for a year to record symptoms. As with trials for other diseases conquered in the past, the race to find a cure for Covid-19 depends greatly on the volunteers who further such crucial vaccine research.
Given that the UAE has been a model of testing efficacy, with over 4.18 million tests done, the country's clinical trials evoke a sense of optimism
For Covid-19, the World Health Organisation says human trials have begun on 23 potential vaccines worldwide, which by even a modest estimate, puts the global number of volunteers in the high thousands.
Here in the UAE, we have seen this spirit of volunteering before. Over the past couple of months, close to 19,000 citizens and residents raised their hands and gave at least six hours of their time each week to help out in containing the pandemic.
The UAE has the great advantage of a diverse population, with people residing here from more than 200 countries. That genetic diversity of volunteers will help research. And even though we may not actually see the vaccine by 2021, to be well on track is a sign of remarkable progress and it will help the country be prepared for future pandemics.
The world will heave a cumulative sigh of relief when a vaccine is eventually ready, and enough quantities are manufactured to be shipped to every remote town and village in the world. When that day comes, it could mean, to a large extent, being able to resume living as we used to.
To this end, the 5000 volunteers who have signed up and the others who will surely follow, deserve our continual gratitude and respect – and not just in hindsight when the trials are deemed a success and countless lives are saved.
BRAZIL%20SQUAD
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ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
South Africa's T20 squad
Duminy (c), Behardien, Dala, De Villiers, Hendricks, Jonker, Klaasen (wkt), Miller, Morris, Paterson, Phangiso, Phehlukwayo, Shamsi, Smuts.
Temple numbers
Expected completion: 2022
Height: 24 meters
Ground floor banquet hall: 370 square metres to accommodate about 750 people
Ground floor multipurpose hall: 92 square metres for up to 200 people
First floor main Prayer Hall: 465 square metres to hold 1,500 people at a time
First floor terrace areas: 2,30 square metres
Temple will be spread over 6,900 square metres
Structure includes two basements, ground and first floor
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Where to buy art books in the UAE
There are a number of speciality art bookshops in the UAE.
In Dubai, The Lighthouse at Dubai Design District has a wonderfully curated selection of art and design books. Alserkal Avenue runs a pop-up shop at their A4 space, and host the art-book fair Fully Booked during Art Week in March. The Third Line, also in Alserkal Avenue, has a strong book-publishing arm and sells copies at its gallery. Kinokuniya, at Dubai Mall, has some good offerings within its broad selection, and you never know what you will find at the House of Prose in Jumeirah. Finally, all of Gulf Photo Plus’s photo books are available for sale at their show.
In Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi has a beautiful selection of catalogues and art books, and Magrudy’s – across the Emirates, but particularly at their NYU Abu Dhabi site – has a great selection in art, fiction and cultural theory.
In Sharjah, the Sharjah Art Museum sells catalogues and art books at its museum shop, and the Sharjah Art Foundation has a bookshop that offers reads on art, theory and cultural history.
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