DOHA: As World Immunisation Week comes to an end, Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) continues to raise awareness and aims to deliver the best service and preventative experience to the population.
Vaccinations are one of the most cost-effective and best ways to protect children and adults in Qatar from vaccine-preventative diseases.
Dr Khalid Elawad, Subject Matter Expert-Public Health and Acting Manager for Communicable Disease, Infection Prevention and Control Section in PHCC, said, “Primary Health Care Corporation as population-based public health service; immunisation is important in analysing the overall functioning of the public health care system and is one of the key indicators of the overall functioning of the health system. Not to forget also that immunisation is a cost-effective public health intervention.”
According to the statement, everyone in Qatar has access to vaccinations free of charge across all primary health centres and can be accessed from 7am to 1pm and 4pm to 11pm, between Sunday and Thursday.
This is done as an effort to encourage adults and children to vaccinate themselves and to prevent any vaccine preventable diseases, which may lead to outbreaks. All children in Qatar have scheduled vaccinations to ensure they are adequately protected.
In Qatar, the National Immunisation Technical Advisory Group (NITAG) led by Dr Mohamed Al Janahi established by Ministry of Public Health to provide independent, bias-free, objective, and evidence-based advice on vaccines and immunisation challenges.
This to ensure sustainable, evidence-informed immunisation policies that are trusted and accepted by our community.
Protecting young and old from vaccine-preventable diseases is a community-wide effort, and residents across the country can contribute in many different ways to this goal through support, engagement, awareness and encouragement of other family members to be vaccinated.
According to the World Health Organisation, immunisation currently prevents an estimated 2 to 3 million deaths every year. An additional 1.5 million deaths could be avoided, however, if global vaccination coverage improves.
