UAE approves Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use

UAE approves Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use

The United Arab Emirates has approved Moderna Inc's COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, the fifth vaccine to receive such approval by the Gulf Arab state, the health ministry said in a statement on state news agency WAM on Sunday.

For more coronavirus news, visit our dedicated page.The UAE, the region's tourism, trade and business hub, has had one of the world's fastest vaccination campaigns, surpassing Seychelles as the most vaccinated nation in the world on Sunday.The country has reported the spread of the Beta, Delta and Alpha variants in the country of some 9.2 million people, Reuters reported.Around 73.8 percent of the UAE's population has received one vaccine dose while 63.7 percent are fully vaccinated, the health ministry said in a Twitter post on Saturday.The decision came after the completion of successful clinical trials of the Moderna jab, an assessment conducted for its local emergency use approval and the approval of the United States' Food and Drug Administration (FDA), state news agency WAM reported on Sunday.

The UAE has already administered more than 15.5 million doses, according to NCEMA, since the launch of the country's vaccination drive in December 2020. This number is expected to rise soon with the approval of a