Etihad CEO Tony Douglas receives Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine in Abu Dhabi

Tony Douglas, group CEO of Etihad Aviation Group received his first dose of the Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine on Monday, January 4, at the Etihad Airways Medical Centre.

In a statement, the airline added that the vaccine is available for free for all Etihad employees and their dependants (over 18 years old) at the medical centre.

“As we say goodbye to 2020, I wanted to start the new year by demonstrating my own confidence in Abu Dhabi’s National Vaccination Programme,” said Douglas.

“While it offers the obvious benefit of being safeguarded against Covid-19, this is my way of contributing to a safer workplace and safer Abu Dhabi community.”

“From an aviation perspective, as borders continue to open up, we hope that through increased vaccination rates, people will feel more confident travelling not only for business and leisure but more importantly, to reconnect with their loved ones around the world.”

Read: UAE approves China’s Sinopharm vaccine for use

The UAE officially registered Sinopharm’s vaccine for use last month after it recorded 86 per cent effectiveness during the vaccine’s phase III trials. The #4Humanity phase III trials have included 31,000 volunteers across 125 nationalities in the UAE alone.

In November, Abu Dhabi launched an initiative called the Hope Consortium which aims to serve as a logistics platform to coordinate and facilitate the distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine around the world. The consortium’s members include Etihad Cargo, Abu Dhabi Ports Group, Rafed, the healthcare purchasing arm of Abu Dhabi-based ADQ, Switzerland’s SkyCell, Agility, Aramex, Hellmann and Kuehne + Nagel.

Read: Abu Dhabi’s Hope Consortium expands reach via four key partnerships

The consortium, led by the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi, aims to distribute 18 billion Covid-19 vaccines by the end of 2021.