DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates has approved emergency use of Sinopharm’s protein-based COVID-19 vaccine and it will be available to the public as a booster dose starting January 2022, the health ministry said. The vaccine will be produced and distributed by a joint venture between the UAE’s Group 42 and China National Biotec Group (CNBG), a unit of China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm), the ministry said in a statement on state media on Monday. The approval came following a UAE-based study that included individuals who were previously vaccinated with two doses of Sinopharm CNBG"s inactivated vaccine, the ministry added. The UAE on Monday reported 1,732 new coronavirus cases and one death. Authorities said around 91 percent of the population of some 10 million had been fully vaccinated.