The United Arab Emirates has approved the use of Sinopharm’s protein-based COVID-19 vaccine for emergency usage, and it will be offered to the public as a booster dosage beginning in January 2022, according to the health ministry.

The vaccine will be manufactured and sold by a joint venture between Group 42 in the UAE and China National Biotec Group (CNBG), a unit of China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm), according to a statement released by the ministry on state media on Monday.

According to the government, the permission came after a UAE-based research that included participants who had previously been vaccinated with two doses of Sinopharm CNBG’s inactivated vaccine.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE), a federation of seven emirates, reported 1,732 new coronavirus infections and one fatality on Monday. Authorities, who did not provide a breakdown for each emirate, stated that around 91 percent of the population of approximately 10 million had been completely vaccinated.