COVID-19 inactivated vaccine products are packaged at a packaging plant of the Beijing Biological Products Institute Co., Ltd. in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 25, 2020. (Xinhua/Zhang Yuwei)

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) based its nationwide immunization drive on the Chinese Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine because of its early availability and the potential to produce shots locally, according to a report by Bloomberg.

"Sinopharm we felt very happy about. We have our own results," said Omar Najim, executive office director at Abu Dhabi's Department of Health.

The country entered talks with 23 companies and engaged with them over three main factors. Early procurement and purchasing were among the main considerations, while conducting local clinical trials and manufacturing the vaccine in the UAE were the other points of engagement.

The vaccine from Chinese drugmaker Sinopharm is the most widely used coronavirus vaccine in the UAE and showed an efficacy rate of 86 percent in local Phase 3 trials.

The UAE approved the vaccine after carrying out trials that involved 31,000 volunteers and it plans to begin manufacturing the vaccine this year.

Najim said the UAE had a delivery schedule on Sinopharm doses.