China’s Sinopharm vaccine is being offered to a handful of wealthy people paying for access to the United Arab Emirates’ Covid-19 vaccination programme as part of a partnership to “bring tourism into the area”, according to an exclusive London club that claims to be brokering the service.
The vaccine is in wide usage in the UAE but is yet to receive emergency approval from the UK government or the World Health Organization. The Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, also approved in the Emirates, is not included in the pay-to-access deal.
The offer is the first apparent evidence to surface of a state using its Covid-19 vaccine supplies as a selling point to foreign tourists, amid a global scarcity of doses and calls to share the resource with vulnerable people and health workers around the world.
The UAE health ministry, its national media office and the Dubai tourism authority did not respond to questions.
Knightsbridge Circle, a “travel and lifestyle service” that charges members a £25,000 yearly fee, received widespread publicity and thousands of new membership inquiries last month when it claimed it could fly its members aged 65 and older to the Emirates for “private appointments for the Pfizer vaccine”, which was approved first by the UK in early December and by many other regulators, including in the US and the EU, since.
But the Guardian checked the club’s claim with Pfizer, which said it had provided its vaccine only to the UAE government, not any private companies in the Emirates or anywhere else in the world. It said it had referred the club’s claims to its global security team for investigation.
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Knightsbridge Circle subsequently clarified that the Pfizer vaccine was only available through the UAE government to members who were already Emirati residents – a total of five people on its rolls. “Members and clients who are residents in the UAE have received the Pfizer vaccine through [Knightsbridge’s] service,” said a spokesperson for the club.
It was not clear why existing Emirati residents would need to use the Knightsbridge Circle service to get their Covid-19 vaccine, as doses are already available for free to all Emirati citizens and residents. The club acknowledged in an emailed response that UAE residents already had access to the Pfizer vaccine. “Yes they are offered it through their app, which is available to all UAE residents, but we are able to offer our services also which includes a chauffeur etc.”
The concierge club said it had struck a partnership with the UAE government to allow access to China’s Sinopharm vaccine, a formulation in wide usage in the country but which is awaiting approval from a stringent regulatory authority, for non-Emirati residents.
“Knightsbridge Circle has been able to partner with the UAE to bring tourism into the area,” said the club’s spokesperson. “For these tourists, the Sinopharm vaccine is offered.”
Prospective members aged over 65 could also apply for a separate offer to pay £10,000 to access the Sinopharm vaccine, but would have had to cover the cost of their own flights and three weeks’ accommodation in the oil-rich Gulf state.
Direct flights between the UK and UAE are now banned and UK residents returning from the UAE via third countries are required to self-isolate for 10 days with their households on arrival.
Both the club’s £25,000 annual membership and the £10,000 three-week membership had filled up in past weeks and no further applications were being taken, the club said.
The club was unable to give further details of its offers due to “client and partner confidentiality”, said the spokesperson.
Britons aged over 65 are on a high-priority list to receive the AstraZeneca or Pfizer vaccines, which are free and approved by British regulators, but the club said its membership is open to anyone “based within four hours of GMT for the majority of the year”.
Knightsbridge Circle was established in 2012 and claims to deliver “exceptional personal service” to its clients, including lunches with the Pope, singing lessons with Alicia Keys, and access to buy designer handbags that usually have a two-year waiting list.
More than 50 countries have started vaccinating their populations, but concerns are growing that mostly wealthy countries have monopolised much of the supplies that will be produced in 2021. A forecast last week predicted it would take until at least 2024 for vaccines to reach low-income countries in sufficient quantities to blunt transmission of Sars-CoV-2.
The UAE started vaccinating residents and citizens in mid-December and has so far inoculated nearly 25% of its population. It expects to have inoculated half its population by the middle of March.
Knightsbridge Circle’s founder, Stuart McNeill, told the New York Times that since it went public with the vaccine-tourism offer the club had received more than 2,000 applications for membership, and had been approached by “several private jet companies” looking to transport its clients.
Pfizer said in a statement it was not supplying its Covid-19 vaccine for use outside government programmes. “During this pandemic stage, our contracts are with governments and supra-government organisations and we are providing doses according to their preferred channel and designated vaccination locations, as per established agreements and following relevant regulatory authorisations,” it said in a statement.
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