United Arab Emirates (UAE) has emerged as a vaccination leader , with a rate of about 65 doses per 100 people. The UAE has a similar population size to Israel’s, but it took a different approach. It has been looking to develop as a regional power – one of the many reasons that drove it to sign a peace accord with Israel last year – so it made sure early on to take an important role in vaccine distribution.
Whereas many Western countries were reluctant to use the vaccines developed by China, the UAE worked closely with Beijing to observe their development process. By September, the UAE was inoculating essential workers with China’s Sinopharm vaccination. (The UAE is also using the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as well as Russia’s Sputnik V and the Oxford-AstraZeneca, which has run into some issues.)
The UAE is now beginning to act as a logistical center for vaccine distribution. It has ordered massive amounts of vaccine doses in order to supply countries in the Middle East and Africa. It also initiated the “Hope Consortium”, an organization for handling the difficult storage and shipping needs of the vaccine as it is distributed internationally.Furthermore, the UAE is building a manufacturing center and will be the first nation in the Middle East to produce vaccines through licensing with Sinopharm.
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