The Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) has celebrated World Immunization Week. This year's celebrations are organized under the theme "Vaccines Bring Us Closer", which was selected by the World Health Organization (WHO).
World Immunization Day aims to promote the use of vaccines to protect people of all ages against diseases, increase vaccination rates, and spread awareness of the importance of vaccinations and their influential role in eliminating communicable diseases.
The activities of World Immunization Week seek to enhance the commitment of community members to vaccination schedules according to the National Vaccination Program, disseminate scientific facts about the importance of vaccines for all community members to protect them from diseases, and emphasize the safety of vaccines according to international best practices.
The Ministry harnesses all communication channels with the individuals to spread awareness-raising messages about vaccines, highlight vaccination services provided by health centers, and publish vaccine-related scientific facts. This year's campaign also includes a webinar on 29 April for medical cadres on the latest information and global practices related to vaccines.
Immunization is a national priority
"Keeping people healthy and safe from contagious diseases is a national priority. Therefore, we've launched this outreach campaign to encourage people to visit primary health care centers and clinics to take the vaccines to maintain their health," said Dr. Hussein Abdul Rahman Al Rand, Assistant Undersecretary of Health Centres and Clinics Sector, and Chairman of the National Committee for the Implementation of the Provisions of International Health Regulations and Prevention of Pandemics.
"This would help improve the results of the national index of vaccination rates of all community members to surpass 99% so that we can have a healthy society free from vaccination-preventable diseases. This also would help achieve the Ministry's strategy aimed at cementing preventive aspects, providing comprehensive health care in innovative and sustainable ways, and achieving the goals of the health track of the National Agenda 2021,” he added.
Brilliant achievements
Regarding the UAE's achievements in administering Covid-19 vaccines, Al Rand underlined that these successes clearly reflect the commitment of the state's wise leadership to the health and wellbeing of people through the provision of the best healthcare practices, including free vaccinations for all target groups.
This occasion is becoming increasingly important with the UAE's production of the "Hayat-Vax" vaccine, the first of its kind in the region, an achievement which confirms that the UAE is moving steadily towards entering the recovery phase.
Importance of vaccinations program
Dr. Nada Al Marzouqi, Director of Preventive Medicine Department, said that immunization is one of the greatest success stories in global health, pointing out that the implementation of the immunization programs-related global goals and strategies, adopted by the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has resulted in saving millions of lives every year from Vaccine-preventable diseases, such as hepatitis, measles, rubella, parotitis, polio, and chickenpox. Vaccines also help reduce the use of antibiotics to treat the disease and its complications, which contributes to lowering the percentage of bacterial patterns that are resistant to antibiotics."
Al Marzouqi urged all community members to adhere to vaccination schedules of the National Vaccination Program, school health vaccination program, and adult, travelers, and seasonal flu vaccination programs.
She pointed out that vaccines are being administered at all the Ministry's preventive medicine centers in accordance with the highest levels of safety and precautionary measures to prevent infection, calling on individuals to adhere to taking necessary vaccines to protect them from diseases, stressing that all healthcare centers provide high-quality preventive services aligned with international best practices.