Abu Dhabi has not formally introduced that it’s vaccinating vacationers, however authorities within the emirate mentioned in a short assertion earlier this month that free Covid-19 vaccines have been accredited for everybody with an “entry visa”.
The UAE is made up of seven emirates together with the capital Abu Dhabi and freewheeling Dubai.
Social media teams have lit up with enquiries as to how vacationers may navigate the vaccination system, which was beforehand solely open to UAE residents holding a regionally issued identification card.
Now, nevertheless, Abu Dhabi’s healthcare app has a facility for guests to register both for the US-German Pfizer/BioNTech jab or the Chinese language-made vaccine Sinopharm.
The app options two separate tabs — one for Emiratis and residents, and the opposite for guests.
Guests can guide appointments utilizing their passport data on the app, which states that these with an Abu Dhabi-issued visa or with passports “eligible for visa on arrival” can register to be vaccinated.
Proof of a visa or an entry stamp is required on the time of inoculation, it provides.
When contacted by AFP, the Abu Dhabi authorities didn’t present additional particulars on the initiative.
The Abu Dhabi Emergency, Disaster and Disasters Committee mentioned in a June 11 assertion that it had additionally accredited the vaccination of these with expired entry visas or residency permits “for his or her security and well being, and in consideration of the distinctive circumstances of the pandemic”.
The UAE has launched an brisk vaccination drive with a few of the highest inoculation charges worldwide.
Whereas life within the Gulf nation has largely returned to regular, with eating places and lodges open, it continues to implement strict guidelines on sporting masks and social distancing.
Dubai was one of many first locations to open its doorways to travellers, permitting vacationers into the emirate in July final 12 months, just some months after the coronavirus pandemic took maintain.
Abu Dhabi, in the meantime, has been extra cautious, opening as much as guests solely in December.
The 2 cities are simply 90 minutes away from one another by way of an categorical freeway, however because the pandemic hit, guests to Abu Dhabi should present a destructive coronavirus take a look at.
The UAE doesn’t launch Covid-19 figures for every particular person emirate, however throughout the nation it has to date recorded greater than 613,993 instances, together with 1,763 deaths.