How UAE achieved 100 per cent COVID-19 vaccine coverage

How UAE achieved 100 per cent COVID-19 vaccine coverage

Abu Dhabi: The UAE has achieved yet another milestone in the fight against COVID-19, with all individuals eligible for COVID-19 vaccination in the UAE covered, the National COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign by the National Crisis, Emergencies and Disasters Management Authority (NCEMA) announced on Thursday. The NCEMA attributed the success of the massive effort to the people of the UAE, as well as to its public and private health facilities. The journey began as early as July 2020, within five months of the country recording its first case of COVID-19. On July 16, 2020, Sheikh Abdullah Al Hamed, chairman of Abu Dhabi health regulator, Department of Health (DoH), and Dr Jamal Al Kaabi, DoH undersecretary, became the first two individuals in the UAE to receive doses of a COVID-19 vaccine as part of a trials drive. The vaccine, produced by a subsidiary of Chinese pharmaceutical giant, China National Pharmaceutical Group, became dubbed Sinopharm after the name of its producer. The UAE trials were Phase III trials of an inactivated vaccine, and were led by the Artifical Intelligence and Cloud Computing firm, G42, in collaboration with public health provider, the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (Seha). Within weeks, more than 31,000 people had