Bahrain grants emergency authorization for Pfizer vaccine

Bahrain granted emergency use authorization for the coronavirus vaccine candidate by Pfizer and BioNTech Friday, becoming just the second country in the world to approve use of the shot, after the United Kingdom.

The kingdom’s Media and Communication Directorate announced that the authorization followed “thorough analysis and review undertaken by the Authority of all available data.”

“The approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine will add a further important layer to the Kingdom’s national Covid-19 response, which has strongly prioritised protecting the health of all citizens and residents during the pandemic,” said National Health Regulatory Authority CEO Mariam Al Jalahma. 

The announcement did not specify how many doses were purchased, for what cost or how and when the vaccine would be distributed.

Bahrain, a tiny island kingdom of approximately 1.6 million people in the Persian Gulf, has seen some of the most alarming per capita infection rates in the world, figures officials have said are due to the government’s widespread testing. The nation has seen more than 87,000 cases, and 341 people have died.

Last month the kingdom granted emergency approval authorization to a vaccine candidate by Sinopharm, a Chinese state-owned firm, to be distributed to front-line workers. 

The U.K. became the first nation in the world to approve the Pfizer vaccine Wednesday after reviewing data that showed it to be 95 percent effective. The first 800,000 doses of the vaccine will likely start to be distributed next week, and people over 80, health care and other front-line workers, as well as residents of nursing homes, are likely to be prioritized there.