UAE: 6,769 vaccine doses administered in 24 hours

The UAE has administered 6,769 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine in the past 24 hours.

The country's Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) said the total doses administered now stand at 24.7 million.

This takes the rate of doses to 249.85 doses per 100 people.

Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday, the White House announced, underscoring the persistence of the highly contagious virus even as the US eases restrictions in a bid to return to pre-pandemic normalcy.

Harris press secretary Kirsten Allen said neither President Joe Biden nor first lady Jill Biden was considered a “close contact” of Harris in recent days. Harris had been scheduled to attend Biden’s Tuesday morning Presidential Daily Brief but was not present, the White House said. Because of their travel schedules, the last time Harris saw Biden was Monday, April 18.

Meanwhile, a Chinese inactivated vaccine against Omicron variants was approved for clinical trials by the National Medical Products Administration on Tuesday, according to Xinhua.

The vaccine, developed by the China National Biotec Group affiliated with Sinopharm, has been under research since December 2021, the company said.

Preliminary tests, such as safety evaluation in animals and immunogenicity research, showed that the vaccine can produce high neutralising antibody titer against various variants including Omicron.