As the UAE witnessed drop in Covid-19 cases below 1000 on Sunday after over 2 months, the doctors are stressing and emphasizing on the fact that the best way to move forward for country’s communities is by taking the Covid-19 vaccine.  On Sunday, UAE recorded 944 cases. The last time less than 1,000 new Covid-19 cases were recorded was on October 19, when 915 infections were established. Post that the number of daily cases have fluctuated between 1000 and 1400.

On Wednesday, Dubai declared free rollout of Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine. China’s Sinopharm vaccine is being offered across many hospitals and medical centres in UAE for the last 15 days. Seeing the past days’ positive outcome, doctors believe that vaccines can boost in the much needed relief from coronavirus.

Dr Iajaz Ahmed, medical director at NMC Specialty Hospital, Al Ain, said, “The trend looks promising and shows the trust and confidence the people have shown on vaccines. There have been no major side effects reported till now. And there is no significant spike in resident numbers since the emergence of the new strain.”

UAE’s Covid-19 infection rate is below 1%. Of the 20.33 million Covid-19 tests conducted, 201,836 were positive cases, giving an infection rate of 0.9%.

Dr Amaka Kate Uzu, Family Medicine consultant at Bareen International Hospital, MBZ City, said, “We see more people in large volumes coming for the vaccine. We encourage the community to get the vaccination. So, we can hopefully fight this virus.”

Dr Adnan Alkhalefeh, general practitioner, said that with new coronavirus strain emerging more residents may seek vaccination. He said, “We expect that the response will increase after the information on the new strain of Covid-19 virus came out. We still do not have sufficient data about the new virus strain in relation to Covid-19 vaccine. So, we encourage the general public to continue following precautionary measures such as washing hands, wearing face masks and maintaining social distance.”

Dr Rehab Ahmed, Internal Medicine specialist at Medcare Hospital Sharjah noted that there is no upper age limit to take Covid-19 vaccines. Though she said that the elderly first must take clearance from their doctors before getting vaccinated. “It is the doctor who will decide, according to the person’s general condition and after checking the individual’s medical history, whether he or she can take the vaccine,” she said.

Michael Brenden Davis, chief executive officer, NMC Healthcare, said, “It is time for all of us to celebrate how far biology has come, how fruitfully we can manipulate biochemical machinery for the good of humanity, and celebrate the potency of science in its global endeavour.”