UAE: 41,271 Covid vaccine doses administered in 24 hours

The UAE has administered 41,271 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine in the past 24 hours.

The country's Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) said the total doses administered now stand at 20.6 million.

This takes the rate of doses to 209.16 per 100 people.

Outside advisers to the US Food and Drug Administration on Friday voted unanimously to recommend regulators authorise a second shot of Johnson & Johnson's Covid-19 vaccine to better protect Americans who received the one-dose vaccine.

The FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee backed the shots for all J&J recipients aged 18 and older at least two months after their first dose. The FDA is not bound to follow the advisory panel recommendations, but typically does.

After hearing presentations from J&J and FDA scientists, members of the advisory panel asked if J&J's single-dose vaccine should actually be considered a two-dose shot for everyone.

They pointed to the lower levels of virus neutralising antibodies it provokes compared to vaccines using messenger RNA (mRNA) technology from Moderna Inc and Pfizer Inc /BioNTech SE.

Meanwhile, eligible fully vaccinated passengers arriving in England from countries not on the red list — such as the UAE, India, Pakistan — can take a lateral flow test on or before Day 2 of their arrival from October 24, rather than PCR tests, cutting the cost of tests that can be booked from October 22.

Officials said on Friday that the eligible travellers will be able to order cheaper lateral flow tests from private testing providers as an alternative to a PCR, offering faster results. The list of approved private providers will go live on the GOV.UK website on October 22.

Passengers will need to take a photo of their lateral flow test and booking reference supplied by the private provider and send it back to them to verify the result. Passengers are also able to book a test which they can take on their arrival into the UK at testing centres located in some airports.