Dubai, United Arab Emirates:
Dubai launched its Covid-19 vaccination programme Wednesday with a senior citizen and a nurse amongst the very first to be inoculated making use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the government stated.
The UAE — which is created up of seven emirates like the capital Abu Dhabi and Dubai — authorized the emergency registration of the vaccine on Tuesday, the similar day the very first batch arrived from abroad, the official WAM news agency reported.
Dubai “begins Covid-19 vaccination ‘Pfizer-BioNTech’ campaign”, the Dubai Media Office tweeted, along with photographs of males and females getting the jab.
It added that the very first phase of the rollout will target citizens and residents more than the age of 60, adults with chronic illnesses, individuals with unique desires as properly as frontline and other essential workers.
Along with the elderly man and nurse, a paramedic, a police officer and a driver have been amongst the very first to obtain the jab in Dubai, which has stated vaccination will be “free of charge” for all citizens and residents.
The very first batch arrived on an Emirates cargo flight from Brussels on Tuesday, WAM stated.
“It has been our honour to transport these vaccines free of charge on our flight,” the airline’s chairman and chief executive, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, stated in a statement.
The Dubai Media Office stated that vaccinations will be obtainable at six well being authority facilities.
Earlier this month, the United Arab Emirates had currently authorized the vaccine created by Chinese drugs giant Sinopharm, which it stated was 86 % productive.
The vaccine made by US pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer and its German companion BioNTech — which proved to be 95 % productive in late-stage clinical trials — is administered in two doses, 21 days apart.
The vaccine need to be stored at -70 degrees Celsius (-94 degrees Fahrenheit), a temperature significantly reduced than typical freezers and which forced the firm to create unique containers for transport.
Taking aspect in the vaccination campaign remains voluntary in the UAE, but officials have encouraged the population to be inoculated.
Two vaccines have undergone third-phase trials in the UAE — the Sinopharm project and Russia’s Sputnik-V, named right after the Soviet-era satellite.
Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum stated in November that he had received an experimental coronavirus vaccine, joining other best UAE officials to take aspect in the trials.
The UAE has so far recorded more than 197,000 instances of the novel coronavirus, like 645 deaths.