COVID-19 vaccine might be needed every year: UAE health spokesperson

People may need to get a COVID-19 vaccine every year, the UAE Health Sector spokesperson said on Monday.

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Dr. Farida al-Hosani, the official spokesperson for the UAE Health Sector, said that new coronavirus variants have emerged recently, adding that “the more mutant the virus, the more is the possible need to vaccinate annually against it,” according to Emirates News Agency (WAM).

Al-Hosani said that some vaccines are given to people as young as 16, adding that clinical studies are taking place for vaccines that could be administered to children.

An advertisement placard informs the public of the location of a designated COVID-19 vaccination center at Dubai's financial center district, UAE. (AFP)

WAM quoted the health sector spokesperson as saying that “between 40-50 percent of the people infected with COVID-19 do not feel any symptoms.”

“Based on this, we increased focusing on old people. The earlier the detection of virus among old people and people with pre-existing conditions, the more chance the virus can be contained,” al-Hosani said.

The UAE on Tuesday reported 3,601 new coronavirus infections as the number of cases in the country continue to soar, bringing the total number of cases to 285,147.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases around the world on Tuesday surpassed 100 million since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the John Hopkins tally.

The number of cases reached 100,164,399, while the death toll stood at 2,153,477 and the number of recovered patients reached 55,295,674, according to figures published by the University tracker.

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