The Ministry of Health continues its efforts to address the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and the search for an effective vaccine, with unlimited support from the government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, which has spared no effort and has made dear and precious efforts to preserve the health and safety of its citizens and residents living on our blessed country. The Ministry also confirmed the continuation of its trials and research in this field, and announced the implementation of a clinical trial of a vaccine against the coronavirus in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, within the framework of the cooperation agreement between the Kingdom and China that includes the implementation of clinical trials in this field. The Ministry of Health indicated that an action plan is being developed to implement a clinical trial in the 3rd phase of the vaccine against the coronavirus, in cooperation with the Chinese company CanSino which was able to develop a vaccine against the virus, as it carried out trials for the first and second phases in China. It also stated that the third phase will include multi-center clinical studies in different countries and on large numbers after the effectiveness and safety of the vaccine has been confirmed in the first and second phases. The study that will be implemented in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will target at least 5,000 healthy volunteers, who are over the age of 18. The Ministry of Health pointed out that the work is currently underway to prepare and make preparations to start in three main cities, namely Riyadh, Dammam and Makkah. This step comes as a continuation of the studies and research being conducted by the Ministry of Health in this area, as it, in cooperation with the World Health Organization, recently conducted an advanced multi-center clinical study in seven hospitals inside the Kingdom to combat the novel coronavirus pandemic.
