Mani', Minister of Health, has appealed to parents and guardians to have children vaccinated in accordance with the national child vaccination program beginning tomorrow in all primary schools. Al-Mani' warned against keeping children away from school during the visits by the vaccination teams and stressed that parent cooperation with the program was of utmost importance in guaranteeing their children's health. Dr. Amin Abdul Hameed Mushkhiss, Assistant Director General, said the program had previously been implemented in Ministry of Health facilities, while Saturday marked a comprehensive national program providing vaccinations against targeted diseases in first year primary school students Kingdom-wide. Ministry vaccination teams will carry out vaccinations in schools instead of in health centers over period of five weeks. Mushkhiss said that the program is aimed at eradicating measles, German measles and mumps, as part of the Kingdom's, and other countries in the Middle East, commitment to the WHO to eliminate the diseases by the year 2010. The Kingdom has made progress following a comprehensive vaccination program for students in the age group of 9 months to 18 years. The goal of eradicating measles requires a very high coverage of vaccination of over 95 percent. The ministry also aims at maintaining the Kingdom free from poliomyelitis. Mushkhiss said that since 1995 no new cases of polio had been registered in the Kingdom, but challenges remain as there are nearby countries in Africa in which the polio is common, notably Nigeria. It is also present in Asia, especially in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Foreign travel as well as Haj and Umrah are known to make polio a threat to the Kingdom. – Okaz __
