DUBAI: Abu Dhabi’s health authority SEHA initiated Phase III clinical trials for an inactivated coronavirus vaccine, state news agency WAM reported.
The trials are being conducted by Sinopharm’s China National Biotec Group in alliance with the Abu Dhabi government and artificial intelligence company G42 Healthcare. The candidate vaccine is believed to be the world’s first inactivated vaccine to enter a Phase III trial.
“The diversity of nationalities that call the UAE home, as well as the leading role our leadership plays in tackling the virus in various countries of the world, made the country the perfect place for Phase III of the clinical trials,” Jamal Mohammed Al-Kaabi, acting Undersecretary of Abu Dhabi’s Department of Health, said in a statement.
The trials attracted volunteers from over 20 nationalities which is a positive sign for an increasingly feasible vaccine, he added.
More than 10,000 people have registered so far to volunteer for the trials. Registration is still open to volunteers interested in participating in the trials through the website: www.4humanity.ae. Health authorities intend to list up to 15,000 people aged 18 to 60 years for the study.
Trials for Phase III of inactivated coronavirus vaccine starts in Abu Dhabi
https://arab.news/8fmab
Trials for Phase III of inactivated coronavirus vaccine starts in Abu Dhabi
- World’s first inactivated vaccine to enter a Phase III trial
- More than 10,000 people have registered so far to volunteer for the trials
US lawmakers press Israel to probe strike on reporters in Lebanon
- “The IDF has made no effort, none, to seriously investigate this incident,” Welch said
- Collins called for Washington to publicly acknowledge the attack in which an American citizen was injured
WASHINGTON: Several Democratic lawmakers called Thursday for the Israeli and US governments to fully investigate a deadly 2023 attack by the Israeli military on journalists in southern Lebanon.
The October 13, 2023 airstrike killed Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah and wounded six other reporters, including two from AFP — video journalist Dylan Collins and photographer Christina Assi, who lost her leg.
“We expect the Israeli government to conduct an investigation that meets the international standards and to hold accountable those people who did this,” Senator Peter Welch told a news conference, with Collins by his side.
The lawmaker from Collins’s home state of Vermont said he had been pushing for answers for two years, first from the administration of Democratic president Joe Biden and now from the Republican White House of Donald Trump.
The Israeli government has “stonewalled at every single turn,” Welch added.
“With the Israeli government, we have been extremely patient, and we have done everything we reasonably can to obtain answers and accountability,” he said.
“The IDF has made no effort, none, to seriously investigate this incident,” Welch said, referring to the Israeli military, adding that it has told his office its investigation into the incident is closed.
Collins called for Washington to publicly acknowledge the attack in which an American citizen was injured.
“But I’d also like them to put pressure on their greatest ally in the Middle East, the Israeli government, to bring the perpetrators to account,” he said, echoing the lawmakers who called the attack a “war crime.”
“We’re not letting it go,” Vermont congresswoman Becca Balint said. “It doesn’t matter how long they stonewall us.”
AFP conducted an independent investigation which concluded that two Israeli 120mm tank shells were fired from the Jordeikh area in Israel.
The findings were corroborated by other international probes, including investigations conducted by Reuters, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders.
Unlike Welch’s assertion Thursday that the Israeli probe was over, the IDF told AFP in October that “findings regarding the event have not yet been concluded.”
