In a major development, the UAE has moved to the top of the list of countries in terms of vaccination rates, surpassing Israel. As of Thursday, the UAE's Ministry of Health and Prevention has administered more than 11 million COVID-19 vaccines doses at a rate of 120 doses per 100 people.

With this development, the UAE has become one of the leading countries in the world to inoculate more than half of their populations during 2021. Several sources, including The New York Times and the Financial Times, reported the latest ranking using the official data collected from local governments by Our World in Data and World Bank population measurements. In addition, Bahrain, Aruba and Chile gained the spot in the top five.

Since the launch of its national vaccination drive in December 2020, the UAE has administered over 11.9 million vaccine doses across the country. As per reports, the healthcare sector administered additional 122,001 vaccine doses on Friday. Notably, vaccination rates across the country have constantly exceeded 100,000 per day.

This week, the UAE expanded its vaccination campaign by making the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine available for everyone aged 12 and above in Abu Dhabi. With immediate effect, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is available across 46 clinics and centres run by Abu Dhabi Public Health group SEHA in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and the Northern Emirates. Furthermore, the Sinopharm vaccine is also available for eligible people across the country.

UAE's authorities are regularly urging all eligible community members to get vaccinated in order to protect themselves and support the efforts to reach herd immunity.

During a UAE government media briefing this week, Dr. Farida Al Hosani, spokeswoman for the health sector, lauded the community for participating in the vaccination campaign in large numbers.

She highlighted that an increase in the vaccine uptake has resulted in a decline in the number of COVID-19 infected people requiring hospital treatment. Dr. Al Hosani added that the authorities have analysed all data and reached a conclusion that hospital admissions have reduced, along with fewer days of treatment and less use of ventilators.

“It has expedited the recovery pace and limited the spread of the virus," she noted.

She called on parents to ensure that their children are getting vaccinated against the disease to boost public health protection and promote the resumption of in-person classes in schools.

“Expanding vaccine coverage allows us to provide vaccines to the biggest proportion of the population in order to reach herd immunity. It is important as children go back to schools," Dr. Al Hosani said.

She reassured parents that the vaccine will help in keeping the children safe and protecting their health. It will also reduce the burden on parents who have children engaged in online learning, she added.

Dr. Al Hosani revealed that around 73.88 of all eligible groups aged 16 and above have been vaccinated, along with more than 80 percent of people aged 60 and over.