Participants in the third phase of Egypt’s clinical trials for a coronavirus vaccine will not be paid, Minister of Health Hala Zayed said Sunday.
In a phone interview with TV presenter Amr Adib on the “al-Hekaya” (The Story) show, Zayed stated that Egypt has received 6,000 doses of the vaccine for research.
Participants in the clinical trials will not be informed of which vaccine they are receiving.
In order to ensure the neutrality of the results, Zayed explained that respondents will either be injected with one type of vaccine, another kind, or even a solution that is not a vaccine whatsoever.
Seven out of a total of 135 vaccines have managed to reach the third stage of clinical trials, she said.
Four of these are Chinese, she added, with two of these being used in Egypt’s trials.
The minister noted that thus far, 35,000 people worldwide have undergone this experiment to satisfactory results.
Global organizations have set strict rules in place for these trials which will not be subject to any changes, Zayed said.
Zayed said that a national committee has been formed to supervise the research, with a website in place to announce the conditions needed to participate.
Egypt’s Health and Population Ministry announced that starting Sunday it would open volunteer registration for the third phase of the coronavirus vaccine clinical trials, done in cooperation with the Chinese government and the UAE health care company G42.
Egypt’s participation will involve 6,000 respondents followed up through a whole year, it added.
