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UAE Residents Receive Third COVID-19 Vaccine Dose

  • Publish date: Monday، 22 March 2021 Last update: Friday، 02 April 2021
UAE Residents Receive Third COVID-19 Vaccine Dose

The UAE is administering ‘booster shots’ of Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine to a small number of people after antibody tests indicated they did not have a sufficient immune response following two doses of the Chinese-made vaccine, its distributor confirmed Sunday.

“When some people are found to be not really responsive to the vaccines, which is expected with all vaccines, there was an initiative to approach these people and give them a third shot of the Sinopharm vaccine, which has shown, within the context of the study, to boost their immunity,” Walid Zaher, the chief researcher for G42 Healthcare, which distributes the Sinopharm vaccine in the UAE, told Dubai Eye radio

The Sinopharm vaccine has a self-reported efficacy rate of 79 percent, which global health experts say is more than adequate, but its data has not been publicly released. In addition to the UAE, the vaccine has been purchased by countries such as Egypt, Cambodia, Senegal and Peru.

The UAE has a vaccination program that initially used Sinopharm and was later expanded to include Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca and Russia’s Sputnik V.

As of Sunday, everyone in the country is eligible for a vaccine, authorities said, after restricting injections for the past six weeks to those with special needs.

The UAE has the second-highest national vaccination rate in the region after Israel with more than 7 million doses given to a population of 9 million. The vaccine is free to all citizens and residents.

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