UAE achieves 100% Covid vaccination: Meet the residents who got the jab first

The UAE has completed vaccinating all target groups against Covid-19 following a countrywide campaign that aimed at providing the jab to all eligible residents.

Sinopharm was the first mass vaccine to be used in the country in December 2020. Residents who got their jabs then, said the procedure was simple, but it was time consuming due to the huge rush for vaccinations. However, for frontline workers, there was no delay in receiving the jab, some of them even got vaccinated before the mass drive began.

Dr Sudheer Salavudeen, specialist general and laparoscopic surgery, Aster Hospital in Qusais, was among the few who took the jab on November 2020, at the Ministry of Health and Prevention Center in Sharjah.

“It is a day of pride for the UAE to have achieved 100 per cent vaccination rate. We successfully battled the pandemic because we protected ourselves by getting vaccinated,” said Dr Salavuddeen.

It was a tense situation at the hospital at that time as many patients were suffering from severe Covid symptoms, he said. “It was one of the toughest times for us. People were scared. We were hearing negative news from all over the world. The death figures were rising and everywhere there was gloom,” said Dr Salavudeen.

There were many rumours doing rounds when the UAE initially announced the vaccination drive. “There was fake news being spread via social media telling people that the vaccines might be harmful,” he said.

Vaccine was the only hope

Dubai resident Abdul Rahman was also among the first to get the jab at the Ministry of Health and Prevention Center in Sharjah.

He said that taking the vaccine was only the hope for people at that time. “Around the world, people were dying, hospital were overflowing with patients,” said Abdul Rahman.

The myths surrounding the effects of the vaccine was busted after Rahman got jabbed. “I felt a mild pain in my left arm, which subsided soon. I did not experience fever or any other health issues,” he said.

Residents who volunteered for trial

Much before the country's immunisation drive began, a few residents had volunteered to get the jab. One among them was Mohammed Anees ur Rahman, a Bangladeshi expat and long-time UAE resident.

“People were very scared during the pandemic,” said Rahman, who received his vaccination during the trial stages in July 2020, at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC).