G7 nations must work together to ensure public confidence in vaccines and prevent misinformation from derailing public health efforts, the UK's vaccine minister said on Tuesday.
Nadhim Zahawi's remarks came on the eve of the world's first Global Vaccine Confidence Summit, which the UK is hosting on Wednesday as part of its presidency of the G7.
Mr Zahawi said the plan for the summit was to “set ambitious goals that will help ensure trust in vaccines remains high”.
"In our interconnected world, misinformation unfortunately now travels many times faster than the virus, wth no respect for borders," he wrote in an article for The Independent.
“Factual inaccuracies, scepticism, lies and full-blown conspiracy theories all undermine the trust necessary to step up and take the jab.”
Mr Zahawi credited the rapid progress of the UK's vaccination campaign with building confidence in the system and leading to high vaccine uptake.
He said that using doctors, faith leaders and celebrities such as Lenny Henry had been key to give the vaccine drive a friendly face.
A YouGov poll last month put the UK at the top of a global table of willingness to get inoculated against Covid-19, with 90 per cent of those questioned saying they would.
The UAE was second on 87 per cent, while some of Britain’s European neighbours were much lower, with Germany on 71 per cent and France on 60 per cent.
Despite the UK’s overall success, uptake has been lower among ethnic minority groups in Britain.
Experts suggest that endemic racism and the legacy of past mistreatment create a lack of trust among ethnic minority groups.
Mr Zahawi said trust in vaccines was often “driven by complex cultural, social and political factors that we need to do much more to understand”.
Wednesday’s summit will hear from experts including World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and top US Covid-19 adviser Anthony Fauci.
Prof Heidi Larson, founder of a Vaccine Confidence Project at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, is also set to take part in the summit.
She said that building confidence in vaccines should be part of the world’s efforts to prepare for a future pandemic.
“Now is the time to think about building foundational trust to support vaccine confidence for the future,” she said.
Dr Tedros is among those piling pressure on wealthy nations to share more Covid-19 vaccines with developing countries.
The heads of the WHO, International Monetary Fund, World Bank and World Trade Organisation issued a joint warning that vaccine inequality made it easier for new variants of the virus to take hold in poorer countries.
They said the shortfall was creating a “two-track” pandemic, with low-income nations receiving “less than 1 per cent of vaccines administered so far”.
“Inequitable vaccine distribution is not only leaving untold millions of people vulnerable to the virus. It is also allowing deadly variants to emerge and ricochet back across the world,” they said.
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
What are the main cyber security threats?
Cyber crime - This includes fraud, impersonation, scams and deepfake technology, tactics that are increasingly targeting infrastructure and exploiting human vulnerabilities.
Cyber terrorism - Social media platforms are used to spread radical ideologies, misinformation and disinformation, often with the aim of disrupting critical infrastructure such as power grids.
Cyber warfare - Shaped by geopolitical tension, hostile actors seek to infiltrate and compromise national infrastructure, using one country’s systems as a springboard to launch attacks on others.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Tamkeen's offering
- Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
- Option 2: 50% across three years
- Option 3: 30% across five years
