700 new volunteers sign up for vaccine trials in five days

Manama

A total of 700 volunteers have stepped forward in just five days, ever since the cap was extended for the phase three clinical trials of the inactivated coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine, the Ministry of Health announced last night.

The new participants are part of an additional 1,700 who are being accepted, to complement the 6,000 volunteers who had already taken part. The Health Ministry expressed its thanks to the new volunteers and said that it continues to welcome those interested to be a part of the “4Humanity” campaign, who are over the age of 18, at hall four of Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Centre.

The vaccine trials centre is open 8am to 8pm every day. Last week, the National Taskforce for Combatting COVID-19 announced that the Kingdom’s volunteer cap for the trials had been extended by 1,700, as a result of the high level of cooperation and participation in the Kingdom.

The decision to expand the number of volunteers by the parties overseeing the trials follows Bahrain’s early realisation of its original target of 6,000 volunteers, in just six weeks. Volunteers who come forward to take part must be willing to undergo a health assessment, in accordance with requirements for the clinical trial participation.