Some 120,000 children have been vaccinated as part of the ongoing national immunisation campaign against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), which began here on October 17. Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) is calling for all children, in the age group covered as part of the campaign, to get inoculated.
MOPH announced that the campaign has by now covered 276 schools, of which 200 are government run.
The one-month campaign, which runs until November 14, is aimed at some 294,000 children between one to 13 years of age. It comes amid 22 recently reported cases of measles in Qatar.
The vaccines are administered to school going students in their schools and for the others at healthcare facilities, including some 20 private clinics, for free.
The ministry has urged parents of non-school going children and students who missed the inoculations at schools to get them vaccinated. This is to ensure maximum immunity in the children and to put check on the diseases. Children not registered at PHCC can get inoculated at any of the 20 private facilities.
MoPH has ensured that the highest standards are followed in quality and administration of the vaccine. This has had great impact on the fact that no significant adverse events have been recorded even with the high number of children being vaccinated daily.
The campaign is part of Qatar’s efforts to eliminate mumps, measles and rubella by 2020, which is in line with World health Organisation’s targets. Though according to Qatar’s vaccination schedules, children should be given two MMR shots at 12 and 18 months of age, a few of the children do not develop sufficient immunity against the diseases after the first or the second dose. Hence the third MMR booster dose is important, according to MoPH officials.
