Abu Dhabi:
Around 58,000 pupils in both public and private schools in the UAE, will be vaccinated to protect them from various diseases in the current academic year 2012-2013, the Abu Dhabi Health Authority (HAAD) announced in a statement Sunday.
That total figure breaks down as around 31,000 students from Abu Dhabi, 23,000 from the Eastern region, and 4,000 students from the Western region.
Under the theme “Protect Your Health with Vaccination”, the vaccination campaign highlights different vaccination programmes which include childhood vaccines, school vaccines, adult vaccines, Haj and Umrah vaccines and travelers’ vaccines.
“Starting from the academic year 2012-2013, varicella vaccine, which protects against chicken pox, will be introduced to Grade 1 pupils, each pupil will receive two doses of the vaccine.
“Added to that, protection against pertussis (whooping cough) along with tetanus and diphtheria to Grade I and II pupils,” Farida Al Hosani, manager of communicable diseases department at HAAD, said.
“After many reported cases of chickenpox to HAAD among school-age children, varicella vaccine, which was introduced to the childhood vaccination schedule since October 2010, is now provided to all children who were born in September 2009 and after to decrease and eliminate chickenpox outbreaks in schools,” Farida added.
These vaccines will be added to the immunisation schedule which already includes vaccines against poliomyelitis, measles, mumps, rubella and cervical cancer for Grade 11 female pupils.
Farida also pointed out that all vaccination programmes are important to protect the community from major infectious diseases. School-aged children will need additional doses of some vaccines to strengthen their immune system.
A parental approval application and a pre-vaccination list will be provided to all parents in order to have their acceptance regarding their children’s vaccination in all public and private schools in the Emirate,” Dr Mubarak Al Darmaki, health section manager for school operations at Adec, told Gulf News.
“People who don’t vaccinate their children are putting them at risk. We encourage both schools and parents on the importance of ensuring that their children have taken all the required vaccines according to their age to avoid suffering any medical problems,” explained Dr Al Darmaki, adding, “educational materials will be also distributed on this topic to create preventative and curative school based health services and awareness across the Emirate.”
