Etihad CEO Tony Douglas is also proactive in promoting the Sinopharm vaccine to his staff
Dubai’s airlines have begun vaccinating their UAE-based workforces against COVID-19, starting with frontline employees, including cabin crew and flight crew.
“The Emirates Group is making both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Sinopharm vaccines, which have been approved by the UAE health authorities, conveniently accessible to its employees at various company locations across the UAE,” the airline said in a statement.
Inoculation appointments are running 12 hours a day, Emirates said. Employees are able to put themselves forward for either vaccine if they wish but are currently not required to get the jab.
Emirates said: “The rollout of its vaccination programme is another step forward, helping to safeguard the health and wellbeing of aviation employees who serve the travelling public and help move essential goods around the world.”
A spokesperson for sister airline, flydubai, confirmed that the airline has also begun a voluntary programme for staff.
Meanwhile, Etihad CEO Tony Douglas, who has already received the Sinopharm jab, is encouraging the airline’s staff to also get vaccinated.
The rollouts mean airline staff in the UAE are among the first aviation workers in the industry to be protected against COVID-19.
Industry body, the International Air Transport Association (IATA), last month called on governments to ensure that aviation workers are made next in line for COVID vaccines after health care workers and vulnerable groups. IATA said aviation workers are essential to the distribution of vaccines worldwide.
The vaccinations move comes as the UAE’s Ministry of Health announced on Monday a further 3,471 new infections, a daily high, were detected in the past 24 hours, alongside 2,990 recoveries and six deaths due to complications.
According to data compiled by Our World In Data, a research website based at Oxford University, the UAE is ranked second highest in the world for vaccination rates, with over 19.04 doses administrated for every 100 people, and close to 1.9 million vaccinations have been given to citizens and residents since their rollout in December 2020.
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