UAE vaccinates 3.48 million people against COVID-19

The UAE provided the coronavirus vaccine to 3,480,415 residents in the country, corresponding to 44.89 percent of the target, state news agency WAM reported on Tuesday citing health sector spokeswoman Dr. Farida al-Hosani.

Al-Hosani said that a total of 5,668,264 coronavirus vaccine doses have been administered, with a rate of vaccine distribution of 57.31 doses per 100 people. The vaccine was given to 57.7 percent of residents over 60 years of age.

The country has so far approved the Sputnik V, AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Sinopharm vaccines and the inoculation drive is currently operating from over 100 different sites across the UAE.

“We noticed a gradual decrease in registered cases during the past two weeks, due to executing all national protocols, and tightening supervision by the authorities. These are good indications of the general improvement in the epidemiological situation,” al-Hosani added.

Al-Hosani stressed the “effectiveness and safety” of the coronavirus vaccines approved in the UAE and encouraged everyone to take them.

“Community immunity is part of the indirect protection phases from an infectious disease and it occurs when a large proportion of the society acquires immunity to a specification infection, such as vaccinating,” she said.

“When the majority of the population becomes immune to an infectious disease, indirect protection for people in the community who are not immune to the disease will be provided due to the limited spread of the disease.”