Bahrain becomes second country to approve COVID-19 vaccine by Pfizer

Bahrain, on Friday, announced that it has approved the emergency use authorisation for the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and German partner BioNTech. This makes it the second country in the world to grant an emergency use authorisation for the vaccine.  

“The approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine will add a further important layer to the kingdom's national COVID-19 response,” said Mariam al-Jalahma, CEO of the National Health Regulatory Authority, said in a statement issued to the official Bahrain News Agency. The UK authorised the vaccine on Wednesday and first of the people receiving the vaccine in the UK would be those staying in nursing homes, those over the age of 80 and healthcare workers.

Bahrain so far has reported more than 87,000 cases of the coronavirus and 341 deaths due to the virus. “This authorisation is a goal we have been working toward since we first declared that science will win,” said Lindsey Dietschi, Pfizer representative in the Gulf told BNA.

Bahrain’s challenge wold be efficient storage of the vaccine, which would be needed to be kept in temperatures of approximately minus 70 degrees Celsius (minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit). Bahrain usually witnesses summers with temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

Shortly after Britain announced its authorisation for the vaccine, top US virus expert Anthony Fauci cast doubts on the MHRA’s (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) assessment of the vaccine data saying, the review by of the vaccine by British regulators, “much less deep” than it would have been if done by the US Food and Drug Administration. Fauci later walked back his criticisms and said, “There has been a misunderstanding, and for that I’m sorry, and I apologise for that. ”

Britain’s MHRA in its defence released a statement that said, they had “rigorously assessed the data in the shortest time possible without compromising the thoroughness of our review”.