The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) on Saturday said 27,766 children have been vaccinated during the first four days of the National Immunisation Campaign against Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR), which was launched on October 17.

A total of 13,253 of these children got vaccinated at private schools, 8,672 at independent schools and government kindergartens, 4,641 at vaccination clinics at primary health care centres and 1,200 children at semi-government and private hospitals/health centres, according to a press statement from the ministry.
The MoPH stressed that the numbers reflected the level of awareness among locals as well as expatriates on the importance of getting their children vaccinated in order to protect them against infectious diseases.
Further, the statement pointed out that experts from the World Health Organisation and US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention had expressed satisfaction over the campaign and its implementation mechanism. They also expected high levels of coverage due to the smooth vaccination process at schools and the wide participation of public and private sector entities.
Meanwhile, the MoPH said the programme for detecting the side effects of immunisation had not received any reports of severe side effects due to the MMR vaccination. Also, the ministry called on parents to ensure that their children had breakfast on the day of vaccination.
A number of public queries about the campaign were received through the MoPH hotlines, 66740948 in Arabic and 66740951 in English, and via email, cdc@moph.gov.qa. All of the queries were answered accordingly, the statement added.
The MMR vaccination campaign runs until November 14.