KT edit: Vaccination drive is the first step to end the pandemic

There should be no room for hesitancy when the leaders have taken the jabs themselves.

The UAE has been proactive in its drive to ensure the well-being of its citizens and residents right from the time when the first two cases of Covid-19 infection were detected in the country in January. Right from building makeshift health centres to setting up hotline numbers for health-related queries, implementing movement restrictions, conducting sanitisation drives to carrying phased trials of Covid-19 vaccines, the authorities didn’t leave anything to chance. Soon after the successful completion of the phase-three trials of a vaccine developed by Sinopharm, it was rolled out for public use, giving priority to senior citizens and people with chronic medical conditions. This drive to inoculate the population of the UAE is now well supplemented by another Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech. The arrival of the first batch of the vaccine from Brussels on Tuesday night reassures people that a sufficient number of doses will be available for all.

Getting the Covid-19 vaccine administered is an important step in our fight against this virus that has disrupted life as we knew it. In popular imagination, a dose of vaccine for everyone should bring this pandemic to an end. But that might not be the case, yet. The Sars-Cov-2 virus is mutating, like viruses usually do. What’s alarming at this point is the emergence of a strain that has combined 17 mutations in one, making it more potent in terms of transmission. The authorities in the UAE haven’t confirmed any such case in the country but the high transmission rate of the mutated strain is a reason enough why we should be considering getting inoculated. We could need incremental shots to overcome this scourge of the pandemic. Taking the Covid-19 shot, therefore, is the first pertinent step in this drive.

Keeping the masks on, washing hands, and maintaining social distance have been the pillars of Covid-19 safety rules so far, and they have served us well. Now we must follow the lead of modern medicine and allow our bodies to build immunity. There should be no room for hesitancy when the leaders of this country have been at the forefront and taken the jabs themselves. Moreover, the UAE Fatwa Council has approved these Covid-19 vaccines, citing they are in compliance with Shariah objectives on the protection of the human body. The fight to end this pandemic can only be won through concerted efforts by the governments and the people. Let’s play our part well.