Photo for representation only.
Doha: A total of 100,000 people from different age groups have got vaccinated since the beginning of the national influenza vaccination campaign in October, the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), said yesterday.
The influenza vaccine has been made easily accessible to everyone to ensure vaccination of as many people as possible. The vaccine is available for free across all health centres and at 47 private and semi-governmental health care facilities including Qatar Petroleum and Sidra Medicine.
The influenza vaccine campaign, themed ‘Fight Flu’, aims to ensure that both the community and healthcare workers are vaccinated. The campaign started for healthcare workers from October 10 and for the public from yesterday and will last until end of the flu season. The campaign organised jointly by The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) and Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC).
However, Qatar has seen a significant increase in the prevalence of flu this year, despite the vaccination campaign to counter influenza was launched by the health authorities.
Recent national data on this year’s seasonal influenza virus shows three times as many people have tested positive for the flu in October and November, compared to the same period in 2017. This indicates a much higher activity of the virus this winter compared to previous winters, resulting in many more people becoming sick due to the flu.
Everyone is at risk of getting the flu, but certain population groups are at higher risk and it is therefore more important for these groups to receive the flu vaccine, according to the World health Organization, the following population groups should receive an annual flu vaccination.
The high risk group includes pregnant women at any stage of pregnancy, children aged between 6 months to 5 years, elderly individuals (aged more than 65 years), individuals with chronic medical conditions and healthcare workers.
The vaccine is available for free at following health care facilities according to a list issued by the MoPH.
