A National Vaccination Campaign for 1.5 Million Syrian Children
DAMASCUS,(ST)_ The Ministries of Health and Education on Sunday launched a vaccination campaign in all the country ‘s schools for measles, rubella and mumps / M.M.R / vaccines , targeting school children from the 1st to the 4th grades.
One and a half million students will be immunized during the campaign to take place March and April.
Minister of Health Saad al-Nayef told reporters during a tour on al- Sharif al-Radi school in Sheikh Saad in al-Mazze area that the campaign falls in the course of the ministry’s efforts to improve children , explaining that the campaign will also give meningitis and oral paralysis vaccines to first grader students in schools that did not complete its vaccination program. Their number is estimated at 465 thousand children.
The Minister noted that the campaign is in parallel with another vaccination campaign at temporary residence centers for displaced families including measles vaccine for children from 6 months up to 15 years and oral polio for children under five, indicating that the vaccine will be given to target groups of children, regardless of their previous vaccines .
For his part, Minister of Education Dr. Marwan al-Wez said that the ministry will make every effort for the success of the campaign in cooperation with the Ministry of Health, adding that the success of the campaign is a message to the whole world on that the strong will of the Syrian people is defying and challenging terrorism.
T. Fateh