Thursday, the Bahraini authorities urged citizens who received the Chinese Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine, to take a third dose, amid an increase in the number of infections, even though the Gulf kingdom is implementing one of the fastest vaccination campaigns in the world.

These people have the option of receiving a third dose of the same vaccine or a dose of the German-American Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, according to the Bahraini authorities, who have already started providing the additional dose this week.

This month, the World Health Organization (WHO) granted emergency approval for the Sinopharm vaccine, according to what the Director-General of WHO announced. This came despite previous statements from WHO experts saying that the vaccine still needed more data.

A member of the Bahraini national team to confront the virus, Jamila Al-Salman, said in a press conference Thursday: "We invite everyone to take the initiative to register to take the booster dose because of its role in developing the body's immune system through the formation of antibodies to raise immunity."

A team member, Manaf Al-Qahtani, had announced two weeks ago that the additional dose is for those vaccinated with the Chinese vaccine.

He explained, "It turned out that there is a group who may have received vaccines more susceptible to infection with the virus than others, and therefore a decision was issued to allow the taking of booster doses for those who received the Sinopharm vaccine."

He added, "Our medical recommendation is that they take the Pfizer vaccine based on the studies we've seen," but "there are two options, Pfizer or Sinopharm."

Bahrain, which is inhabited by about 1.8 million people, has recorded a high daily infection rate since April, reaching more than 3,000 cases last week, before declining to about 2,000 cases Wednesday.

The number of deaths also increased significantly, from about four at the beginning of April, to 29 last Tuesday, which is the largest daily toll since the beginning of the pandemic.

Cases increased in Bahrain, even though the kingdom ran one of the largest vaccination campaigns in the world in proportion to the population, giving two doses to about 805,000 people, while the first dose was given to about 970,000, according to the Ministry of Health.

Bahrain, which opened its doors to thousands of neighboring Saudi visitors on May 17, said that family gatherings and disregard for precautionary measures are causing infections.

Bahrain’s immunization strategy relied mainly on Sinopharm after it hosted the third phase of clinical trials for the vaccine, but it also licensed the Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca and Sputnik V vaccines.

The Sinopharm vaccine is currently used in 42 countries, including the UAE, which also hosted clinical trials.

The third dose in Bahrain will initially be given to adults aged 50 years and over, obese patients, and medical staff, six months after receiving the second dose, provided that it will be available to the rest of the population a year after receiving their second dose.