DUBAI: Dubai is planning to inoculate 70% of its population with the COVID-19 vaccine produced by Pfizer and BioNTech by the end of 2021, in a campaign free of charge for citizens and residents, a health official said.
The financial hub of the United Arab Emirates began the first phase of the vaccination campaign last week, targeting “priority groups,” including those 60 and older, people with chronic medical conditions, those with disabilities and frontline workers.
In contrast with the UAE’s capital Abu Dhabi, which rolled out a vaccine made by China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) to the general public, Dubai followed Saudi Arabia, which earlier this month became the first Arab country to use the Pfizer vaccine.
“We are targeting to vaccinate approximately 70% of the population of Dubai by the end of 2021. We want to reach the herd immunity that is required,” Farida Al-KHajja, chairwoman of Dubai’s steering committee for COVID-19 vaccinations, told Reuters.
KHajja said a second phase would kick off in April and would be open to all citizens and residents.
The UAE’s health ministry has registered the Pfizer-BioNTech shot for emergency use, but none of the other emirates has so far announced plans to roll out the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, for which data has shown 95% efficacy.
Asked about coordination between the UAE’s seven emirates, KHajja said: “There is a (national) vaccination campaign in the UAE and all the emirates are covering their vaccine programs.”
The UAE was the first country outside China to roll out the Sinopharm vaccine to the public and said earlier this month it had 86% efficacy, citing a review of an interim analysis of late-stage clinical trials.
Its phase III clinical trials in the UAE included 31,000 volunteers from 125 nationalities.
The Sinopharm vaccine is now available to anyone living in the UAE who wishes to receive it, including at a field hospital in Dubai set up by the federal government.
Emaad Alvi, a senior at Cornell University who is also a resident of Dubai, received the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
“The reason I chose to get the vaccine ASAP is because I’m asthmatic and I have trust in the doctors and I think the vaccine should be fine,” he said.
Dubai aims to inoculate 70% of population with Pfizer vaccine in 2021
Dubai aims to inoculate 70% of population with Pfizer vaccine in 2021
Israel confirms ban on 37 NGOs in Gaza
- UN has warned that this will exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory
- Several NGOS have said the requirements contravene international humanitarian law or endanger their independence
JERUSALEM: Israel on Thursday said 37 humanitarian agencies supplying aid in Gaza had not met a deadline to meet “security and transparency standards,” and would be banned from the territory, despite an international outcry.
The international NGOs, which had been ordered to disclose detailed information on their Palestinian staff, will now be required to cease operations by March 1.
The United Nations has warned that this will exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.
“Organizations that have failed to meet required security and transparency standards will have their licenses suspended,” Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism said in a statement.
Several NGOS have said the requirements contravene international humanitarian law or endanger their independence.
Israel says the new regulation aims to prevent bodies it accuses of supporting terrorism from operating in the Palestinian territories.
Prominent humanitarian organizations hit by the ban include Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), World Vision International and Oxfam, according to a ministry list.
In MSF’s case, Israel accused it of having two employees who were members of Palestinian militant groups Islamic Jihad and Hamas.
MSF said this week the request to share a list of its staff “may be in violation of Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law” and said it “would never knowingly employ people engaging in military activity.”
‘Critical requirement’
NRC spokesperson Shaina Low told AFP its local staff are “exhausted” and international staff “bring them an extra layer of help and security. Their presence is a protection.”
Submitting the names of local staff is “not negotiable,” she said. “We offered alternatives, they refused,” hse said, of the Israeli regulators.
The ministry said Thursday: “The primary failure identified was the refusal to provide complete and verifiable information regarding their employees, a critical requirement designed to prevent the infiltration of terrorist operatives into humanitarian structures.”
In March, Israel gave NGOs 10 months to comply with the new rules, which demand the “full disclosure of personnel, funding sources, and operational structures.”
The deadline expired on Wednesday.
The 37 NGOs “were formally notified that their licenses would be revoked as of January 1, 2026, and that they must complete the cessation of their activities by March 1, 2026,” the ministry said Thursday.
A ministry spokesperson told AFP that following the revocation of their licenses, aid groups could no longer bring assistance into Gaza from Thursday.
However, they could have their licenses reinstated if they submitted the required documents before March 1.
Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Amichai Chikli said “the message is clear: humanitarian assistance is welcome — the exploitation of humanitarian frameworks for terrorism is not.”
‘Weaponization of bureaucracy’
On Thursday, 18 Israel-based left-wing NGOs denounced the decision to ban their international peers, saying “the new registration framework violates core humanitarian principles of independence and neutrality.”
“This weaponization of bureaucracy institutionalizes barriers to aid and forces vital organizations to suspend operations,” they said.
UN Palestinian refugee agency chief Philippe Lazzarini had said the move sets a “dangerous precedent.”
“Failing to push back against attempts to control the work of aid organizations will further undermine the basic humanitarian principles of neutrality, independence, impartiality and humanity underpinning aid work across the world,” he said on X.
On Tuesday, the foreign ministers of 10 countries, including France and Britain, urged Israel to “guarantee access” to aid in the Gaza Strip, where they said the humanitarian situation remains “catastrophic.”
A fragile ceasefire has been in place since October, following a deadly war waged by Israel in response to Hamas’s unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Nearly 80 percent of buildings in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged by the war, according to UN data.
About 1.5 million of Gaza’s more than two million residents have lost their homes, said Amjad Al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGO Network in Gaza.
