DUBAI: The emirate of Dubai has said it was slowing down its rollout of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine due to a temporary delay in global deliveries.

Dubai, one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates, began mass inoculations in December after the approval of vaccines by Chinese firm Sinopharm and US drugmaker Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.

According to health officials, the UAE has already vaccinated over two million of its approximately 10 million population — one of the highest rate in the world. On Saturday, the Dubai Health Authority said it will scale back on vaccinations after Pfizer announced in mid-January shipment delays for up to a month due to works at its key plant in Belgium.

On Saturday, the UAE recorded 3,566 Covid-19, a new high for the 12th consecutive day. It has so far recorded over 274,000 infections, including 783 deaths.