The Ministry of Public Health inoculated 166,145 children during the national Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccination campaign which ran in Qatar from October 17 to November 30. The vaccines provided as part of the campaign were free and targeted children between 1 and 13 years of age.
Some 70,142 children were vaccinated in 125 private schools and 40,176 in 214 government schools. Also, 55,827 were vaccinated in the various participating health facilities including 42,449 vaccinated in Primary Healthcare Centers (PHCC) and 13,378 received their vaccines in private health care facilities.
The Ministry stated that the campaign was successful and saw widespread demand from citizens and expats. MoPH also clarified that no serious side effects of the vaccine were recorded among the vaccinated children till the end of the campaign. The Ministry attributed this achievement to the high quality and standards followed during administering the vaccine.
The campaign was supported by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Center for Disease Control in USA (CDC-Atlanta).
The campaign was conducted to promote the Ministry’s goal to eliminate measles in Qatar. This focus is in line with WHO recommendations which require all member states to implement similar campaigns at a national level for elimination of measles from the world. WHO aims to achieve total elimination in the Eastern Mediterranean region by 2020.
In the last three months, MoPH had recorded six confirmed measles cases. Added to this, earlier this year, some 22 cases of measles were also reported. However, the incidence rate and number of measles cases in Qatar have dropped rapidly during the last few years, from 160 confirmed cases in 2012 to 18 cases in 2015.
Vaccination was also administered at Qatar petroleum clinics, Ras Gas Al Khor Medical Center and Sidra Research and Medical Center.
