Covid vaccine: Dubai's private hospitals are now offering Pfizer jabs

Reuters

Dubai - Residents can pre-register and receive their free Pfizer jabs at any government or private hospitals that are offering the vaccine.

Published: Wed 28 Jul 2021, 6:37 PM

Updated: Sat 31 Jul 2021, 2:10 PM

By
Saman Haziq

To aid the country in achieving a 100 per cent vaccination rate against Covid-19, now several private hospitals in Dubai have started offering the first and second doses of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine that is said to be over 90 per cent effective against the various strains of the virus, including the Delta and Delta plus variants.

Earlier, mostly government health centres were administering the RNA technology vaccine (Pfizer) and only Sinopharm was available at private hospitals in Dubai.

Residents can now pre-register and receive their free Pfizer jabs at any government or private hospitals that are offering the vaccine.

Among the first few private healthcare providers to offer the Pfizer vaccine to the general public is Aster Cedars Hospital in Jebel Ali that announced that from June 27, 2021 members of the public could walk-in to register for free jabs of the vaccine after pre-registering for it.

A poster released by the Aster group read: “ Register for Pfizer vaccination that is now available at Aster Cedars Hospital from 9am to 6pm.” The hospital also provided a mobile number where people can call and book for slots to get the Pfizer jab. Prior registration, the hospital said, was mandatory to get the vaccine.

Aster group clarified that the Pfizer doses being administered at the Aster Cedars Hospital in Dubai are “not booster shots” but the basic first and second dose of the vaccine that can be given only to those who have not yet been vaccinated against Covid-19.

Earlier, the healthcare provider was administering only Sinopharm vaccine at Aster Hospital, Mankhool.

Some other private hospitals such as Zulekha Hospital are also offering the two doses of the Pfizer vaccine within a gap of 21 to 28 days to eligible candidates, which include Dubai visa holders and those with valid Emirates ID cards.

While Dubai residents, who are 12 and above, can take the Pfizer shots at Zulekha Hospital, Dubai, the hospital specified that people who have a Sharjah visa, and reside in Dubai can avail of the jabs only if they are 60 years and above. All they need to do is to present proof of residence in Dubai - by showing either their Dewa bill or Ejari.

Other Dubai hospitals have said that they will soon be finishing with the first and second doses of Sinopharm vaccine and will then focus on administering the Pfizer vaccine, the stocks of which they are expecting to receive in the coming two weeks.

Another Dubai hospital that did not want to be identified, added that they had a limited stock of the Pfizer vaccine and that too they were administering it to only high-risk inndividuals as specified by the Dubai Health Authority. These high-priority individuals, the hospital said, include four main groups - the first group include Emiratis and residents aged 60 and above, people with chronic health conditions, and the disabled.

The UAE has administered over 16 million vaccine doses, with a distribution rate of 162.20 doses per 100 people – the highest in the world.

Over 76 per cent of UAE residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine, while more than 66 per cent are fully vaccinated.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine works with RNA technology, which means that part of the virus’ gene code is injected into the body, prompting it to start producing the s-protein on the shell of the virus, triggering immune response. On May 24, Pfizer-BioNTech was approved for use for citizens as young as 12.

saman@khaleejtimes.com