H1N1 Vaccines Made Available at 15 Centers

JEDDAH – Anti-swine flu vaccines have been made available at 15 medical centers in the Western Province, Dr. Nuha Dashash, Deputy Director of Jeddah Health Affairs Management’s primary health care department, said here Sunday.

 

“We have provided these medical centers with enough quantities of H1N1 vaccines. These vaccines will be enough for all community members including Saudis, and expatriates,” he said.

 

Medical centers, Dashash said, have been provided with equipment and specialized medical staff to administer the vaccine easily and to treat its side effects, if any.

 

The propaganda against the vaccine is unfounded and has no truth in it, she maintained. As such, she said, there is no room for fear.

 

“Our religion asks us to protect ourselves from diseases and protection is better than treatment,” she said.

 

Keeping in view the apprehension of several families, authorities have equipped the medical centers with the latest and most modern equipment, she said.

 

The 15 centers where the vaccine is available are: “Maidan Al-Fahd, Old airport, Al-Aziziyah, Al-Balad, Quwaizah, Al-Quraiyat, Al-Mahjar, Al-Faisaliyah, Al-Marwa, Al-Shat’e, Al-Salam, Thuwal and Thahban.

 

Dr. Tariq Madani, professor of internal medicine and infectious diseases at the College of Medicine at King Abdulaziz University, said it was difficult for the authorities to convince the people to take the vaccine.

 

Clear statements, Madani said, have been made by the minister of health that these vaccines have proved harmless after the tests.

 

All the rumors in this regard are not based on any scientific fact, Madani said. – SG

 

 

Diana Marwan Al-Jassem - Saudi Gazette