MoHaP starts mobile vaccination services for children

Mariecar Jara-Puyod, Senior Reporter

UAE residents who want to have their infants vaccinated at a Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHaP) Health Promotion Centre may now do so even without alighting from their vehicles.

The creative tweak has been initiated as a safety measure against the Novel Coronavirus (COVID19) whereas it is crucial too for children from four months to 18 months or the one-year-and-six month-old kids to have themselves inoculated from infectious sicknesses like measles and diphtheria.

MoHaP-Health Assistant Sector-Health Centres and Clinics undersecretary Dr. Hussein Abdel Rahman Al Rand said: “We always seek to launch and innovate smart solutions to provide curative and preventive services and to ensure the continuation of the health services of the immunization program.”

The ongoing creative approach called “Mobile e-Clinic Services” for children is in line with the April 24 to 30 “World Immunisation Week.”

To make the appointment, parents need to contact a MoHaP health centre and provide the required information for the vaccination services. They would be given their schedules.

At the appointment, the family need not get down from their vehicle as the attending medical staff receive them at the front entrance for the procedure.

Al Rand, also Chairman of the National Committee for the Implementation of the Provisions of International Health Regulations and Prevention of Pandemics said on Tuesday: “We understand that families are anxious to visit health centres due to any possible infections. However, we must not delay the required vaccinations of our children because doing so would affect their immunity.”

The United Nations International Children’s Fund (Unicef) highlghted this in its website that carries the latest information on COVID19.

“The (COVID19) outbreak is confronting families around the world. Suddenly, parents are facing an urgent challenge: how to protect themselves and their children from a rapidly spreading infectious disease...We may not have a vaccine for COVID19 yet, but we do for other deadly and highly contagious vaccine preventable diseases such as measles and polio.

“As COVID19 disrupts daily routines, many parents may be wondering whether they still can get their children vaccinated. We advise that if you still have access to immunizations, take the opportunity to get them for your child while following national and local guidance on COVID19 protective measures.”