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UAE fights Covid: Abu Dhabi achieves world's highest vaccination rate at almost 100%

Capital successfully managed to combat pandemic without going into full lockdown

Abu Dhabi achieved the highest vaccination rate in the world at nearly 100 per cent, the Department of Health-Abu Dhabi (DoH) has announced.

"Through the vaccination campaign launched by Abu Dhabi, the Emirate was able to achieve the highest vaccination rate worldwide at nearly 100 per cent," the DoH said on Facebook.

According to the DoH, the Emirate of Abu Dhabi successfully managed to navigate and combat the pandemic without going into full lockdown.

This established a balance between ensuring the health and safety of individuals and the stable continuity of businesses and the economy within the emirate.

The UAE was one of the first countries in the world to launch a Covid-19 vaccination campaign. To date, Abu Dhabi is one of the highest cities in the world in vaccination rates globally.

"One of the most beautiful things that came out of the pandemic was the sense of community. People started becoming more considerate of each other," said the DoH.

According to a report issued by the Abu Dhabi Media Office mid-last month, in recognition of its advanced and solid healthcare infrastructure, commitment and leadership, Abu Dhabi was once again recognised as the world's top pandemic-resilient city globally by Deep Knowledge Analytics (DKA), a London-based DeepTech analytical subsidiary of Deep Knowledge Group (DKG).

The report said the recognition reflects the emirate's comprehensive, efficient and timely Covid-19 pandemic response that reinforced Abu Dhabi's healthcare sector as a leading model regionally and internationally.

In a similar report published by DKA in the first half of 2021, Abu Dhabi was also ranked as the leading city in response to Covid-19 globally. Since then, an additional 28 cities have been examined and added to the ranking, which now assesses a total of 100 cities.

The Pandemic-Resilient Cities Ranking evaluates the continued progress of key cities and presents additional policy recommendations to rectify major shortcomings. The report is based on six parameters that city governments have been focusing on to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and demonstrate resilience and readiness for similar public health issues in the future. These parameters are government efficiency, economic resilience, healthcare management, quarantine measures, vaccination strategy and cultural compliance.

The emirate achieved a Covid-19 testing capacity of over 500,000 tests per day and established 27 drive-through testing and vaccination centres, with nearly 100 per cent of the community receiving the Covid-19 vaccination. Additionally, Abu Dhabi succeeded in increasing the healthcare capacity by 200 per cent pertaining to the number of patient beds at hospitals as well as the increasing number of intensive care beds by 300 per cent. All of this supported by an agile, data driven, science based and world leading policies and intervention that resulted in one of the lowest mortality rate and infection per capita rate globally.

The efforts come in line with Abu Dhabi's efforts to leverage life science, innovation, digitalisation and medical tourism to position itself as a leading destination for healthcare. The emirate continues to provide the latest innovative treatments to preserve the health and safety of the community. DoH signed strategic agreements with major international pharmaceutical companies to provide the latest treatments to patients with mild, moderate and critical symptoms and immunocompromised patients who cannot receive vaccinations; and to provide preventive treatments to protect all members of the community from the Covid-19 virus.

Abu Dhabi also received the first global shipment of AstraZeneca's Evusheld, which generates antibodies for immunocompromised patients. Additionally, Abu Dhabi and Roche, the world's largest biotech company, announced a strategic partnership to adopt the latter's casirivimab and imdevimab for the prevention and treatment of mild to moderate symptoms of Covid-19 patients.

Globally, Abu Dhabi plays a leading role in the global efforts to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, through its participation in clinical trials for Covid-19 vaccines and therapeutic innovations, and through its contributions to accelerating the pace of vaccine and medicine development and distribution to the world. Abu Dhabi was able to successfully leverage its prime geographical location and advanced healthcare infrastructure to establish the unique pharma corridor, HOPE Consortium.

The Abu Dhabi-led public private partnership helped lead the global effort against the Covid-19 pandemic through delivering over 260 million vaccine doses to over 60 nations around the world. The emirate's testing capabilities for Covid-19 are also being used to assist several countries in their epidemiological investigation efforts.

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- ismail@khaleejtimes.com