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.
