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UAE Covid-19 vaccine: Private hospitals start giving the jab

Abu Dhabi - Dedicated Covid-19 vaccination centres set up in hospital compounds.

Published: Sat 12 Dec 2020, 1:44 PM

Updated: Sat 12 Dec 2020, 1:49 PM

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Private hospitals have started giving the Chinese Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine shots to residents in Abu Dhabi from Saturday morning.

Last week, the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (Seha) had begun administering vaccines to residents at its clinics on a voluntary basis.


The UAE approved the vaccine after it was found to be 86 per cent effective against the infection.

From 9am on Saturday, VPS Healthcare Group started the process at 18 of its facilities across Abu Dhabi City and suburbs, Al Ain and Al Dhafra. Residents started queuing up to receive their shots in the morning.

Hospitals like Burjeel, Medeor, Lifecare and LLH have established dedicated Covid-19 vaccine centres outside their main buildings. In other hospitals and medical centres, the designated areas have been set up inside the facility.

ALSO READ: List of centres where you can get the jab

Special teams

The healthcare group has formed a Covid-19 Vaccination Task Force to deal with the situation. Special training has been given to medical and non-medical staff.

Dr Pankaj Chawla, VPS Healthcare’s Covid-19 Vaccination Task Force lead, said: “This is the first day of vaccination across the chain of VPS facilities. We have received several bookings and started giving the vaccine from today morning. More registrations are coming and slots are being allotted. We have made special arrangements in our hospitals and clinics to facilitate the vaccine drive.”

How to book your slot

The group has the capacity to vaccinate 5,000 residents daily. Appointments can be booked online at www.covidvaccineuae.com or through helpline number 800-5546 or WhatsApp number 0565380055.

People are then allotted time slots of 30 minutes. This is done to avoid crowding at the medical facilities. Once at a facility, the entire process is expected to take an hour, including the 30 minutes of observation time after taking the first dose.

There is also a walk-in option, but it may take longer.

Other private players like NMC Healthcare are set to join the vaccination drive from Sunday.

ashwani@khaleejtimes.com



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