Photo has been used for illustrative purposes.

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

The Sharjah Social Services Department (SSSD) is continuing to provide the COVID-19 vaccine to senior Emiratis, people of determination, people of mental illnesses and their families across the Emirate of Sharjah as part of its campaign aimed at reaching the groups most in need of the vaccine.

The SSSD aims at providing the vaccine to 100 families per day through home visits paid by 18 teams from the elderly services centres in Sharjah, Khorfakkan, Dibba Al Hisn, Kalba, Al Hamriya, Al Dhaid, Al Madam, Al Bataeh and Mleiha. The medical team, in co-operation with the primary healthcare centre in Sharjah, was trained in the approved medical procedures for providing vaccines.

As many as 2,545 elderly Emiratis, people of determination and their families were vaccinated during the campaign, which was launched on Jan.14. These included 2,291 people receiving the first dose of the vaccine and 254 people receiving the second dose.

The SSSD receives all requests via the toll-free number 800700 to provide a home vaccination service to elderly Emiratis and their families across the Emirate of Sharjah. A total of 1,344 requests were received since the campaign was launched in co-operation with the Ministry of Health and Prevention as represented by Sharjah Medical District.

Khulood Al Ali, Director of Home Care Section at SSSD, affirmed that the campaign, which the SSSD is continuing to provide to the targeted groups, comes in response to the national campaign ‘Hand in hand we recover from Corona’.

Al Ali praised the efforts of the Ministry of Health and Prevention and its limitless co-operation with the SSSD to provide doses and other supporting services.

A recent report said the Dubai Health Authority (DHA), in coordination with Dubai’s Supreme Committee of Crisis and Disaster Management and the COVID-19 Command and Control Centre, announced that it has commenced its COVID-19 vaccination campaign.

The campaign will see the DHA providing the Pfizer- BioNTech vaccination, which has recently been approved for use by the US Food and Drug Administration and registered by the UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention.