UAE crosses four million dose mark in national vaccination drive

Authorities aim to inoculate half of the population by the end of March

UAE residents of all ages are eligible for the Sinopharm shot, which is available across the seven emirates. All photos by Victor Besa / The National

People register for the vaccine at Seha's cruise ship terminal vaccine centre

Both the government and employers have urged the public to get vaccinated, as the country faces record daily numbers of new cases

An Abu Dhabi resident waits to receive her first shot at the Seha vaccination centre at Abu Dhabi Cruise Terminal.

Sisters Aya and Jana register for the vaccine shot

Suzana and husband Novica Ristovic get vaccinated pictured with the advice brochures given to all volunteers

Shaikha Al Dheiri waits to be called in for the first of two shots that are necessary to provide protection against the virus

The Seha Vaccination Centre at Abu Dhabi Cruise Terminal can serve up to 3,000 people per day. Victor Besa / The National

The vaccination Centre at Abu Dhabi Cruise Terminal

A medic holds up a package containing the Chinese-made Sinopharm vaccine

Emirati Abdulaziz Karmastaji gets a basic blood oxygen check before his vaccination

Two shots are required 21 days apart to ensure people have sufficient antibodies to protect them

A man is inoculated at Seha Vaccination Centre in the Abu Dhabi Cruise Terminal

Mohamed Hawas Al Sadid, chief executive of Abu Dhabi's public hospital operator Seha, oversees the vaccination drive

The Seha Vaccination Centre at Abu Dhabi Cruise Terminal can serve up to 3,000 people per day

The UAE has administered more than 4 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine since embarking on a nationwide immunisation drive in December.

The milestone figure was surpassed after a further 158,786 vaccines were given to the public over the past 24 hours.

It brought the overall tally to 4,008,160, which represents 40.53 doses distributed per 100 people.

The Emirates is second only to Israel in terms of the percentage of its population who have received at least one of the two doses required to be fully vaccinated.

Dr Farida Al Hosani, spokeswoman for the UAE health sector, said this week that vaccine take-up was higher than initially forecast, adding to hopes that the country could hit a level of herd immunity soon.

Dr Al Hosani gave her assessment at an online debate on Tuesday night.

“We are seeing good progress on a daily basis," she told the event, organised by the Atlantic Council think tank.

"We conducted a couple of surveys to see the acceptance of the community and based on this, we rolled out the campaign.

"We could see the level of acceptance from the beginning was good – higher than expected."

The UAE has looked to the world in order to bolster its vaccine capacity.

China's Sinopharm vaccine was approved for use for all members of the public in the country on December 9.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, a collaboration between US pharmaceuticals company Pfizer and the German biotech company BioNTech, was registered in Dubai two weeks later as part of a phased campaign initially focused on vulnerable groups and key workers.

Russia's Sputnik V vaccine was approved last month for emergency use.

The decision came after the Emirates hosted a small-scale Phase 3 trial of the vaccine, involving about 1,000 volunteers, produced by Gamaleya National Centre of Epidemiology and Microbiology.

On Tuesday, Dubai authorised use of the Swedish-British Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

The first shipment from India contained 200,000 doses, which is enough for 100,000 people. More orders are expected.

The mass vaccination campaign is viewed as central to efforts to overcome the pandemic and usher in a return to normal life.

Covid-19 infection rates have surged since the start of the year, prompting officials in Dubai to implement safety measures such as suspending popular Friday brunches and cutting mall and venue capacity.

Any licensed venue classed as a “pub or bar” – which includes nightclubs – but that is not a restaurant was to close immediately under directives issued on Monday.

The UAE recorded 14 deaths of people with Covid-19 on Friday, its highest daily toll to date.

A further 3,251 infections were confirmed, bringing the overall tally to 320,126.