The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) will conduct a national immunisation campaign against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) from October 17 to November 14, targeting about 294,000 children across the country.
The campaign will be conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Primary Health Care Corporation, Hamad Medical Corporation, Qatar Petroleum and Sidra Medical and Research Center.
Announcing the details of the campaign yesterday at a press conference, Sheikh Dr Mohamed bin Hamad al-Thani, director of Public Health at MoPH said that the vaccination will be administered free of charge to children aged one to 13 years.
“ Qatar aims to eliminate these diseases by 2020 as detailed in the National Health Strategy as well as the plan Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO) of World Health Organisation. At present, Qatar is ranked third highest country with these diseases according to EMRO. However, this is due to the demographic situation in the country and this year only 22 cases have been reported so far.”
“It is compulsory for all the children. However we will send a consent form to the parents. The vaccination can be avoided only on account of any medical grounds,” said Sheikh Mohamed.
“In Qatar, we give two doses of measles vaccine for children at the age of 12 months and 18 months. This is mandatory in Qatar unlike several other countries where only one shot is served. The third one is given as a supplement as certain vaccine can have up to 5% error factor in effectiveness,” he continued.
Dr Hamad Eid al-Rumaihi, director of Communicable Disease & Health Protection Department, MoPH, said that vaccination activities for school going children will be conducted in the concerned schools.
“Vaccination activities for school children will be implemented at independent, private and community schools; and the children under school age will be vaccinated at primary healthcare centres and at some private health centres.”
“A total of 22 private health centres have been identified for the vaccination programme. Once we have finalised the details with these health centres, the names will be announced. The MMR vaccine, given in the campaign is part of routine vaccines used in the national immunisation programme in Qatar for more than two decades, and has the highest levels of safety and effectiveness and approved by the WHO and US Food and Drug Administration,” he highlighted.
This campaign, with the assistance of experts from WHO and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, is part of the policy of MoPH to improve and protect the health of Qatar’s children from infectious diseases.
The second dose of MMR vaccination coverage rate in Qatar is more than 90% and the national supplementary immunisation campaign can lead to measles elimination.
The incidence rate and number of measles cases have dropped in the country rapidly during the last few years, from 160 confirmed cases in 2012 to 18 cases last year of 2015. Last year only 21 cases of mumps and seven cases of rubella were detected.
Officials from healthcare institutions collaborating with the campaign were also present at the press conference.