BAHRAIN has signed an agreement with French vaccine company Valneva SE to supply one million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine – VLA2001.
Valneva is liaising with the National Health Regulatory Authority (NHRA) to roll out the vaccine in the kingdom, said a company statement.
If approved, Valneva will make it to the list of vaccines offered free of cost to citizens and residents.
According to Valneva chief business officer Franck Grimaud, the vaccine should be available in Bahrain early next year.
“We are grateful to the Bahraini government for their trust and confidence in our vaccine and are eager to work with them to start helping to address the pandemic’s evolution in the Middle East,” said Mr Grimaud.
“Subject to regulatory review and approval, we plan to start deliveries in the first quarter of 2022.”
VLA2001 is currently the only whole virus-inactivated, adjuvanted vaccine candidate against Covid-19 in clinical trials in Europe. It is also suited for booster jabs.
The statement also cited a Bahraini government representative confirming the deal.
“Bahrain is once again at the forefront in adopting new measures to protect the health of citizens and residents against the threat of Covid-19,” said the representative, who was not named.
“Subject to approval, Bahraini citizens and residents will have the ability to choose from a variety of vaccines that will have a positive impact on driving up vaccinations rates with 93 per cent of the eligible population now fully vaccinated in the kingdom.”
This is the second purchase agreement Valneva has secured for VLA2001 since reporting positive data for its phase three clinical trials in October.
Last month, the company announced that the European Commission had signed an advanced purchase agreement for up to 60m doses of VLA2001.
Bahrain has been offering four vaccines - Sinopharm, Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca-Oxford and Sputnik V. It has also approved the single shots from Johnson & Johnson and Sputnik Light which are yet to be rolled out.
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