UAE declares eligibility criteria for Covid-19 vaccine exemptions

The UAE’s Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) on Tuesday announced a list of seven conditions under which residents are exempt from taking the Covid-19 vaccines.

The Covid-19 vaccine exemption applies to the following individuals:

– Active cases who are infected with Covid-19
– Volunteers in Covid-19 vaccine clinical trials
– Pregnant women
– People vaccinated outside of the country
– People who have previously contracted Covid-19, following a medical assessment
– People who have severe allergies to vaccines or vaccine ingredients
– People with diseases proven to interact negatively with the vaccine

The ministry said that exempt categories should present an exemption certificate issued by accredited health centres, clinics and hospitals. To grant the exemption, an attending physician will assess the request and submit a medical report to relevant health authorities for approval.

The applicant will be informed via SMS on whether their application is approved or not, and exemptions will appear on the Al Hosn app, reported state news agency WAM.

MoHAP urged all eligible citizens and residents to take the vaccine, to help boost herd immunity and curb the spread of the virus.

Also on Tuesday, MoHAP announced that 86,996 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine were administered over the past 24 hours. The total number of doses provided to date stands at 11,273,344 with vaccine distribution rate of 113.98 doses per 100 people.

The approved vaccines in the UAE are Sinopharm, Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca and Sputnik V. All residents of the UAE aged 16 and over are eligible to receive a free Covid-19 vaccine.

Read: Free Covid-19 vaccinations in UAE reopened to all residents aged 16 and above

Local production of the Hayat Vax has also commenced in the UAE. “We are delighted to announce the production of the Hayat-Vax vaccine has started in the UAE, signalling the beginning of a historic phase of vaccine production in the country,” said Dr. Farida Al Hosani, official spokesperson of the UAE Health Sector, during a press briefing on Monday.

Health Sector: We are pleased to announce the start of production of the “Hayat-Vax” vaccine in the #UAE, marking the start of a historic stage for vaccine manufacturing in the country.#TogetherWeRecover pic.twitter.com/2kkmbbiAEk

— NCEMA UAE (@NCEMAUAE) May 10, 2021

Hayat-Vax [Hayat means life in Arabic], is the first indigenous Covid-19 vaccine in the region and is manufactured by a joint venture between Sinopharm CNBG and Abu Dhabi-based technology G42.

Al Hosani added that a study conducted on the efficiency of the national vaccination campaign, has shown that non-vaccinated persons are most vulnerable to severe complications caused by Covid-19.

The study’s findings highlighted a significant decline in infection rates after being vaccinated by the second dose.
The study also revealed that the vaccine’s efficiency in preventing people from being hospitalised amounted to 93 percent, while its efficiency in preventing them from being admitted to an intensive care unit is 95 per cent.

On Tuesday, the country reported 1,614 new coronavirus cases were recorded over the preceding 24 hours, bringing the total number of recorded cases in the UAE to 539,138. Two deaths occurred as a result of the virus, taking the total number of deaths in the country to 1,617. MoHAP also noted that an additional 1,600 individuals had fully recovered from virus over the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of recoveries up to 519,405.