Over one million doses of vaccine given in UAE

Our Correspondent

The Ministry of Health and Prevention’s (MOHAP) goal of providing the COVID-19 vaccine to all residents and contain the spread of the virus is progressing successfully. On January 10, it announced that it has reached the milestone of giving one million doses of the vaccine. So far, 1,086,568 doses have been given while over 250,000 people have received two doses.

All frontline workers have been vaccinated, as they were prioritised when the vaccine was approved at the start of October 2020. The vaccine is available to all segments of the community free of cost, whether citizens or residents, most notably elderly people and those with chronic diseases.

The UAE leadership has urged everyone to take the vaccine to protect themselves from the pandemic. The country’s leaders have taken the vaccine, the latest high-profile recipient being H.H. Sheikh Saud bin Rashid Al Mu’alla, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Umm Al Qaiwain.

The national COVID-19 Vaccine campaign offers the vaccine in all public and private health establishments around the country, and people can take it voluntarily.

The seven DHA facilities that are now offering the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are Al Safa primary health care centre, Zabeel primary health care centre, Al Mizhar primary health care centre, Nad Al Hamr primary health care centre, Al Barsha primary health care centre, Uptown Miriff medical fitness centre and Hatta Hospital.
The campaign is targeting four main categories. The first category is people who are 60 years old and above, people with chronic diseases and people of determination.

The second category is frontline workers in both the public and private sectors. The third category is the vital sector workers. The fourth category will be open to all who wish to be vaccinated, based on approved international and local protocols.

The DHA highlighted that priority will be given to the first three categories, and the vaccination will become available to the fourth category in the near future.

In line with its plan to vaccinate more than 50 percent of the country’s population against COVID-19, the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) announced that 66,219 people have received the coronavirus vaccine over the last 24hrs, bringing to 1,086,568 the total number of jabs taken so far across the nation, at 10.99 doses per 100 people.

MoHAP and health authorities have recently launched a national campaign to encourage people to get vaccinated, especially the elderly, and those with chronic diseases.