Umm Al Quwain Ruler receives COVID-19 vaccine jab

Umm Al Quwain: His Highness Sheikh Saud Bin Rashid Al Mu’alla, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Umm Al Qaiwain, has received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine, according to Emirates News Agency (WAM).

Sheikh Saud, who took the vaccine to join the country's efforts to combat the spread of the virus, is not the first ruler of the UAE Emirates to get the vaccine. In November last year, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, took the COVID-19 vaccine.

Lt General Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, and Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign and International Cooperation, also took the vaccine last year.

In line with its plan to vaccinate more than 50 per cent of the country's population against COVID-19, the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) on Saturday announced that 78,793 people have received a coronavirus vaccine over the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of jabs taken so far across the nation to 1,020,349 at 10.32 doses per 100 people.

In the meantime, MoHAP, along with health authorities concerned, announced the launch of a national campaign to encourage people to get vaccinated against COVID-19, specially the elderl, and people with chronic diseases.

The UAE approved Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine at the end of last year, as part of its comprehensive and integrated efforts to ensure increased prevention levels against the pandemic and to provide all tools to ensure public health and safety in support of the health-care system.

The UAE also registered the Chinese-made Sinopharm vaccine officially on December 9, 2020, after trials suggested it had an 86 per cent success rate against COVID-19, WAM reported.