Huge turnout of Kuwaitis to receive ‘flu shots’ on day 1

25/10/2020

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Vaccination campaign to continue in 34 health centers

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 25: As the winter season approaches, citizens are eager to take vaccination against the seasonal flu — a process that has become vital and is recommended by the health officials, reports Al- Qabas daily. The daily toured ten preventive health centers in different regions, and noticed that some centers witnessed a huge turnout of citizens even though many of them did not take prior appointments, as the ministry’s portal to book appointments was not responding.

Some of the citizens who came to receive the winter vaccinations

These centers gave priority to the elderly and the disabled, in addition to those with preexisting conditions that would render them vulnerable to seasonal flu complications and pneumonia.

According to reliable sources in the Ministry of Health, the seasonal flu vaccination campaign will continue in 34 preventive health centers countrywide.

Smoothly
On the first day of the campaign, the reception of citizens went smoothly apart from minor technical challenges in terms of the ministry’s appointment portals, and the running out of vaccination in some centers. A total of 60 appointments were allocated for each clinic in a health center in order to avoid crowding.

The sources said the ministry is working on providing enough vaccinations to ensure the success of this campaign. Meanwhile, the sources explained that the ministry has been coordinating with the World Health Organization (WHO) periodically and around the clock to follow up on any update regarding the health quarantine period for those infected with COVID- 19, which currently is ten days, as well as the quarantine period of contact cases, and those return from abroad, which currently is 14 days, as it is the incubation period for the COVID-19 virus.

However, no new recommendations have been received regarding this matter. Concerning the COVID-19 vaccines, they indicated that the ministry is in contact with officials in the organizations that are concerned with the official approval of any vaccines against the COVID-19 virus.

The sources affirmed that no vaccine has so far been officially approved by the World Health Organization or the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), and accordingly, the ministry will not import any unapproved vaccines into the country.

In addition, the Ministry of Health announced the categories of groups that are more in need of others to take seasonal flu vaccines.

They are:

1 – Children from the ages of six months to five years

2 – Pregnant women

3 – People who are obese

4 – Female nursery workers who deal with children under five years of age

5 – People who are in contact with sick cases

6 – People with chronic heart disease

7 – People suffering from asthma and other respiratory diseases

8 – People suffering from blood-related diseases and immunodeficiency

9 – People with impaired kidney and liver function

10 – Oncology patients, or those who underwent organ transplantation and those suffering from diabetes