Photo used for illustrative purpose.

A Government Affairs Director from AstraZeneca, the developer of one of the leading COVID-19 vaccines in partnership with Oxford University, has praised the UAE’s vaccine rollout program by highlighting the work done by health authorities in the region to make vaccines available as soon as possible.

To date, over 12.1 million vaccination doses have been administered in the UAE with a vaccine distribution rate of over 124 doses per 100 people, with approximately 70,000 doses of the vaccine administered daily.

In terms of population vaccinated, the UAE is currently fourth after the Seychelles, Maldives and Israel. 

Qutaiba Al Manaseer, Government Affairs Director, Middle East and Africa, AstraZeneca, said: Middle East countries have been successful in their efforts to make vaccines available as soon as possible. Health authorities across the region have developed agile regulatory systems and adapted rolling review strategies to ensure a fast but thorough regulatory process.

“Specifically, the UAE ranks among the best in the world in terms of the speed of its vaccination programme. This is attributed to strong efforts from key senior stakeholders who worked collaboratively with health authorities to deliver impactful campaigns that are aimed at increasing the trust in the safety of vaccines available in the country, and uptake from the local population,” added Al Manaseer.