Dubai: Dubai Health Authority (DHA) held a series of webinars across various Dubai Government entities to raise awareness on the importance of the COVID-19 vaccine. The DHA’s Health Promotion & Education Section kicked off the initiative, following the launch of the authority’s free Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination campaign.
Dr Hend Al Awadhi, head of the Health Promotion & Education Section at DHA, revealed that so far, the webinars have benefited 910 government employees working at Dubai Customs and Roads and Transport Authority (RTA). She added that DHA will also be holding two more webinars with Dubai Media Corporation (DMC) and Dubai Municipality (DM) by the end of this month.
“We want to raise awareness about the COVID-19 vaccine because it is currently the best, safest and most effective method to control the COVID-19 pandemic, stop it from spreading and to protect ourselves and others,” said Al Awadhi. She added that each webinar is divided into three sections. The first focuses on what one needs to know before getting vaccinated. This includes information on why people should get vaccinated, how vaccines work, the targeted categories, the exempted categories and the effectiveness of the vaccine.
The four categories of recipients
“Dubai is currently implementing the first phase of the free Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination campaign, which targets the first category [of recipients]. This includes those who are 60 years and above, people with chronic diseases and people of determination. The second category includes frontliners in both public and private sectors. The third category includes vital-sector workers, while the fourth category will be open to all those who wish to get vaccinated. Priority is being given to the first three categories now. The vaccination will be open to the fourth category in the near future,” she added.
The excluded categories are nursing mothers, pregnant women, children below 18 years, people with immunodeficiency diseases, women planning to get pregnant in the near future (three months from the date of taking the vaccine) and those who are allergic to any vaccine, food, medicine or substance or those who carry a self-injectable adrenaline.
‘What to expect’
“The second section of the webinar focuses on what to expect when taking the vaccine. Here we inform government employees about the locations offering the vaccine, customer journey, important information they should share with their physician before taking the vaccine and how the vaccine is administered and its doses,” said Al Awadhi.
She added that the final part of the webinar focuses on what to expect after taking the vaccine, such as the common side-effects one can experience when taking the vaccine. It also tells people about what to do should one experience any side-effect, apart from answering the frequently-asked questions.
Those who are within the targeted categories can book an appointment to get vaccinated through the DHA app or by calling 800342.
