Pupils aged 16 and over in UAE require Covid-19 vaccine to return to school

Dubai schoolchildren will not be affected by the decision

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  Siddharth Gusani, Trrishman Basoor, Adithya Suresh and Abdul Mohsin, (at back), who are pupils at Gems Millenium School Sharjah and received their first dose of the Sinopharm vaccine. All photos Gems Millenium School Sharjah

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  Shilpa Shyam, a pupil at Gems Millenium School Sharjah, received her first dose of the Sinopharm vaccine.

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  Ann Joe Tharakan, another pupil at Gems Millenium School Sharjah, who got the shot.

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  Ahmik Pawanarkar, Anulome Kishore and Abhimanyu Das (at front) are pupils at Gems Millenium School Sharjah who took the vaccine.

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  Trrishman Singh, a grade 12 pupil at Gems Millenium School Sharjah also got his vaccine.

Children aged 16 and above in the UAE must be vaccinated to return to school after the summer, the Ministry of Education said on Monday.

Pupils in Dubai, which has its own crisis authority and whose private schools are regulated by a separate education body, are not affected by the decision.

Officials urged pupils to sign up for doses as soon as possible to avoid delays in getting back to classes.

The decision follows an announcement in June that Abu Dhabi would require all over 16s to be vaccinated to enter many public places, including schools.

Earlier, the Ministry of Health and Prevention approved the Sinopharm vaccine for children between 3 and 17. As with other countries, the vaccine remains voluntary for all age groups.

The approval follows a successful trial involving 900 children in Abu Dhabi.