A senior Red Cross official in the GCC has urged people to get the Covid-19 shot, saying unvaccinated people could put the public health at risk.
Dr Fawzi Amin, the first GCC representative to lead the delegation of International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said the benefits of getting inoculated against the coronavirus far outweigh any possible side effects of the vaccine.
Dr Amin, who spoke at an online webinar to discuss the latest virus figures across the six-nation bloc, stressed the importance of getting injections as new cases increase across the region.
If you are not vaccinated, you are a public threat and you can affect your family and a vulnerable person
Most Covid-19 vaccines, including the Sinopharm and Pfizer-BioNTech, have been evaluated and analysed for safety and effectiveness in clinical trials.
He quoted figures from across the GCC in his 30-minute presentation to show how the response to the virus had changed since the first case was diagnosed in the UAE on January 29.
More cases were being detected because of effective and widespread testing, he said.
"My advice is… do not wait… take the vaccine," said Dr Amin, who was an adviser to the World Health Organisation for nearly two decades.
“Each day in the GCC, we have 40 people dying," he said. "This is a serious disease. Even if you are not dying from the disease you may have a long term health problem.
“The risk surpasses any side effect of the vaccine. We should not hesitate, we should be promoting everyone to take the vaccine as quickly as possible to protect yourself [and others].”
Dr Amin said older adults are at higher risk for severe illness but that does not mean younger people will not experience severe symptoms.
He gave the example of Japan, which has an ageing population but has a low death rate.
The median age in Japan is 48 but it has recorded only 3,962 deaths among its nearly 126.3 million population.
Wearing face masks, implementing social-distancing measures, early and effective contact-tracing strategies also contributed to relatively low numbers (in Japan), he said.
Dr Amin, from Bahrain, praised the UAE’s efforts to control the virus, but asked people to receive the vaccine to avoid problems in the future.
“If you are not vaccinated, you are a public threat and you can affect your family and a vulnerable person,” he said.
“It is an important issue. The front line workers should be the first, but it is everyone’s duty. We can all carry the virus.”
Almost 1.3 million doses of the vaccine have been administered in the UAE since a free and voluntary inoculation campaign began last month with tens of thousands of shots given each day.
Nearly 250,000 people in the country have completed their Covid-19 vaccination, having received two doses 28 days apart.
The UAE has authorised the use of the Sinopharm vaccine, which, when tested locally, was found to be 86 per cent effective. Wider tests conducted by the Chinese pharmaceutical company put the efficacy rate at 79 per cent.
In Dubai, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is made available for over-60s, frontline workers and people with underlying health conditions that place them at greater risk of serious illness.
Inoculations for the rest of the population in the emirate are expected to begin in the coming months.
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
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%3Cp%3E-%20Diriyah%E2%80%99s%201.9km%20King%20Salman%20Boulevard%2C%20a%20Parisian%20Champs-Elysees-inspired%20avenue%2C%20is%20scheduled%20for%20completion%20in%202028%0D%3Cbr%3E-%20The%20Royal%20Diriyah%20Opera%20House%20is%20expected%20to%20be%20completed%20in%20four%20years%0D%3Cbr%3E-%20Diriyah%E2%80%99s%20first%20of%2042%20hotels%2C%20the%20Bab%20Samhan%20hotel%2C%20will%20open%20in%20the%20first%20quarter%20of%202024%0D%3Cbr%3E-%20On%20completion%20in%202030%2C%20the%20Diriyah%20project%20is%20forecast%20to%20accommodate%20more%20than%20100%2C000%20people%0D%3Cbr%3E-%20The%20%2463.2%20billion%20Diriyah%20project%20will%20contribute%20%247.2%20billion%20to%20the%20kingdom%E2%80%99s%20GDP%0D%3Cbr%3E-%20It%20will%20create%20more%20than%20178%2C000%20jobs%20and%20aims%20to%20attract%20more%20than%2050%20million%20visits%20a%20year%0D%3Cbr%3E-%20About%202%2C000%20people%20work%20for%20the%20Diriyah%20Company%2C%20with%20more%20than%2086%20per%20cent%20being%20Saudi%20citizens%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Museum of the Future in numbers
- 78 metres is the height of the museum
- 30,000 square metres is its total area
- 17,000 square metres is the length of the stainless steel facade
- 14 kilometres is the length of LED lights used on the facade
- 1,024 individual pieces make up the exterior
- 7 floors in all, with one for administrative offices
- 2,400 diagonally intersecting steel members frame the torus shape
- 100 species of trees and plants dot the gardens
- Dh145 is the price of a ticket
