UAE temporarily restricts COVID-19 vaccinations to elderly, chronic diseases

The United Arab Emirates has disclosed plan to temporarily only vaccinate residents and citizens who are elderly or who have certain health conditions.

Why disclosing this on Sunday February 7, 2021, the health ministry stated that the temporary policy change was made following a spike in infections over the past weeks “to ensure acquired community immunity and contain the disease”.

“For the next four to six weeks authorities will try to vaccinate as many elderly people and people with certain diseases as possible. Some other appointments will also be available for other population segments,” it added.

The move came as daily infections tripled in around six weeks to hit a record 3,977 on Feb. 3 in the UAE.

A vaccine developed by China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) had been made available to all adults in the Gulf state.

Dubai has also made the Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines available to citizens and residents of the emirate, with priority given to the elderly, those with chronic diseases and frontline workers.

The health ministry reported 3,093 new cases on Sunday.