The numbers are staggering: 500,000 residents will be administered the flu vaccination as Qatar prepares for the summer to give way to winter. The Ministry of Public Health’s (MoPH) ‘Fight the Flu’ campaign, now into its sixth year, will handle the huge number of shots. The campaign is a joint effort involving MoPH, Hamad Medical Corporation and the Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC).
With the weather change in the real sense imminent, the MoPH has moved into top gear with its awareness campaign to help citizens - young and old - get the required flu shot to minimize the threat of illness or hospitalization. MoPH is hammering down with its message to let the citizens know that this is the most trying of conditions with the COVID-19 menace sweeping the globe.
The good news is the flu shots will be made available free of cost to whoever reaches out to PHCC centers around the country. It is also easily accessible at HMC outpatient clinics and designated private and semi-private clinics and hospitals, according to MoPH advisory released to the public. Dr. Soha Al Bayat, Head of Vaccination Unit, Health Protection and Communicable Disease Control at the MoPH, has delivered a key video message in which she underlines dangers of not going for a flu shot. Dr. Al Bayat says even those who do not get sick can easily pass on the virus to people with weak immune systems.
Healthcare experts in Qatar have also echoed similar sentiments, saying with COVID-19 threat a clear and present danger and 2020 is the year to make use of the free flu shot.
The MoPH is specifically targeting children below the age of five, pregnant women, senior citizens and residents above the age of 50. The MoPH has urged people suffering with diabetes or hypertension or immunity compromising issues to get the flu shot as soon as possible. If the public want their questions answered by experts or if there’s information needed on where to get the flu vaccine in the country, the citizens and the residents can log on to the website www.fighttheflu.qa.
While the MoPH campaign on free flu shots reaches every household in the country, the citizens should continue to pay heed to government’s advice on the SOPs while staying away from COVID-19 threat. The change in weather could be sudden as we approach the start of November. The cold climate is when the threat of flu takes real shape. The MoPH’s advice should be taken seriously by all in the country.
