A Saudi research team has successfully completed the preclinical research studies to produce the first Saudi coronavirus vaccine. Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (IAU) announced that a team of its affiliated Institute for Research and Medical Consultations (IRMC) had succeeded in reaching a vaccine for COVID-19. The research team led by Dr. Iman al-Mansour, professor of epidemiology, had completed studies and made preclinical trials, and is currently awaiting the necessary approvals for clinical trials to ensure its safety and effectiveness. The team’s paper has been published in the scientific journal “Pharmaceutical” for peer review. The University congratulated the research team on its achievement and thanked the Ministry of Education for funding the project, which is part of the strategic research projects. Meanwhile, Saudi citizens and residents continue to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in medical centers, amid elaborate regulatory procedures. The centers are inoculating individuals from the first category targeted during the first phase, including the elderly and health practitioners. The Kingdom maintained its record of daily recovery rate at 97.7 percent of total detected cases. The Health Ministry announced 181 new recoveries, raising the total to 356,382. In addition, 113 new COVID-19 cases have been detected, bringing the total number of infections since the start of the pandemic in March last year to 364,613. The number of active cases continued to drop inside the country, with 1,918 active cases, 310 of which are in critical care units, while the rest are in stable condition. The number of COVID-19 related deaths in the Kingdom has reached 6,313 with three new fatalities announced on Friday. More than 11.3 million PCR tests have been conducted in the Kingdom since the beginning of the pandemic, including 50,695 new tests.