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Swine flu vaccination campaign kicks off Sunday |
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News -
Health
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Saturday, 31 October 2009 23:30 |
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Minister of Health Hilal Al-Sayer and ministry officials will launch the A(H1N1) vaccination campaign on Sunday
, being the first to receive the shots.
Director of Public Relations and Media at the ministry, Faisal Al-Doseri, told KUNA that the vaccines would be made available to those most susceptible to the virus, in line with recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO).
He said that 145,000 doses of the vaccine had been delivered to Kuwait this month, and that these would be distributed to public clinics and hospitals.
Those most susceptible to the virus are children under the age of five, pregnant women, those above 65 years of age, and those with chronic diseases - diabetes, asthma, low immunity, renal and heart conditions, and those with breathing difficulties.
Kuwait has recorded 6,440 swine flu cases since April, most of which were minor cases that had recovered. To date, 17 people were killed after contracting the virus.
A second batch of 600,000 doses of the vaccine is expected to arrive in Kuwait in late December, and that a total of two million doses will have been delivered to the country by February.
An American expert in contagious diseases, who recently visited Kuwait, had said that the vaccine was not harmful and had no serious side effects.- Kuna
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