<strong>Latest: <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/health/uae-secures-deal-to-manufacture-sinopharm-vaccine-ahead-of-major-inoculation-push-1.1140999">UAE secures deal to manufacture Sinopharm vaccine ahead of major inoculation push</a></strong> <em>*This story has been updated to reflect a clarification in the data</em> More than 800,000 Covid-19 vaccine jabs have been administered in the UAE so far. In the weekly briefing on Tuesday, Dr Farida Al Hosani, spokeswoman for the UAE health sector, said since October 1 at least 826,301 vaccine doses have been administered. That is on average 47,000 doses administered each day. That is the equivalent of 8.35 doses administered per 100 people in the total population. That compares to 15.83 in Israel, 3.62 in Bahrain and 1.38 in the US, according to <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations" target="_blank">data compiled by the <em>Our World in Data</em> website</a>. She also said the UAE was aiming to reach 50 per cent of the country's population by the end of March. This came as the UAE <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/health/coronavirus-uae-reports-highest-daily-cases-of-covid-19-to-date-1.1141014">reported</a> a new high of Covid-19 cases with 1,967 infections recorded on Tuesday, after another 153,645 tests were carried out. It raised the country's total infections since the start of the pandemic to 216,699. Of these, 193,321 patients have recovered after 1,866 more were cleared of the virus. Three people died of complications over the past 24 hours, increasing the toll to 685. Authorities said case numbers were rising around the world as well as within the UAE. Dr Al Hosani said this was due to internal infections as well as travellers into the Emirates carrying Covid-19. The UAE on Tuesday also announced a deal to manufacture the Sinopharm vaccine locally, in addition to securing millions of readily available shots for the population. Health authorities launched a vaccine awareness campaign to encourage people to take the shot. Vaccinations are also being counted as part of the daily Covid-19 update. The vaccine is optional and taken in two doses, three to four weeks apart. The most vulnerable groups have priority but the briefing also heard the UAE wants to vaccinate young adults as they are contributing the most to the spread of the disease due to the nature of their lifestyle and activities.
