UAE continues to administer COVID-19 vaccine among frontliners

The UAE is continuing to administer a Covid-19 vaccine being trialled here among healthcare staff, a top official has said. The vaccine is being given under an emergency approval to the "first line of defense, who are more susceptible to disease as a result of the nature of their work".

Dr Farida Al Hosni, spokesperson for the UAE health sector, said: "Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, many scientific and experimental steps have been shortened for the greater benefit and reduction of the spread of infection."

The process of producing a vaccine in the normal scenarios could take "decades", she said.

"As part of the procedures to gradually return to normal life and to support global efforts to tackle the virus, the UAE is committed to be one of the leading countries in supporting the vaccine development and contributing to various clinical trials," she said during a virtual Press briefing on Tuesday.

The main purpose of developing the vaccine is to stimulate the immune system to "create memory cells" and encourage it to produce the defence mechanism needed to combat the microbe as it enters the human body.

She explained that other vaccine development targets include preventing new infections, preventing serious complications in the event of infection and limiting the virus' ability to transmit.

Al Hosni noted that vaccines' elements vary. While some are made up of non-living microbes, some are "weak copies" of microbes and others are "genetically modified proteins similar to those found in the real microbe".

In addition to the vaccine developed by China's Sinopharm, the UAE is set to commence trials for the Russian adenovirus-based vaccine called Sputnik V.