Vaccination resumes for all citizens and residents

Our Correspondent
Considering that the six-week priority period given to people who are most at risk of infection is over, the Ministry of Health and Prevention has urged all Emiratis and residents eligible for COVID-19 vaccination to start booking appointments for inoculation.
Those eligible for vaccination, including citizens and residents aged 16 and above, can now get inoculated for free in any of the 205 vaccination locations available nationwide, the ministry said in a statement on March 21.
Those desiring vaccination need to book in advance while those who are most vulnerable to infection will continue to be received by vaccination centres without prior booking.
In the past six weeks all health departments in the country had prioritised those most at risk of infection, including the elderly and people with chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart and respiratory illnesses.
Dr. Abdul Rahman bin Mohammad bin Nasser Al Owais, Minister of Health and Prevention, said that 72.89 percent of elderly Emiratis and residents and those with chronic diseases have been vaccinated against COVID-19 and that 56.59 percent of the eligible population have been inoculated against the disease.
The UAE has to date administered 7,181,056 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, at a net rate of 72.61 doses per 100 people.
The UAE has approved four Covid vaccines: Sinopharm; Pfizer-BioNTech; Sputnik V; and Oxford-AstraZeneca. MoHAP is working to get the entire UAE population vaccinated as soon as possible so that there is acquired community immunity.