Doha: Parents have been urged to get their children aged 12-15 vaccinated before opening of schools to safeguard their well-being in classrooms.
“Children aged 12 to 15 years even though have less serious complications when it comes to the (COVID-19) infection, they have longest infection and they are transmitting the disease to others who are more vulnerable.
"So we encourage parents to have their children get vaccinated with the upcoming opening of new year to ensure safety and wellbeing of our children in classes,” Dr. Soha Al Bayat, Head of Vaccination at the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), said in a video message posted on the official social media handles of the Ministry.
She also asked eligible people still not vaccinated to act now, get vaccinated and get protected.
“Since the beginning of COVID-19 vaccination campaign, the community in the State of Qatar has shown great response. So far, we have about 85% of the eligible population which are aged 12 years old and above who have taken at least one dose of the vaccine.”
She added: “Still we need more (people) to take the vaccine. Each person who takes the vaccine is a step forward towards a safer community and going back to normal life.”
Dr. Al Bayat said the Ministry focused more on some groups within the community, such as the elderly, over 65-year-olds, children aged 12 to 15, and pregnant women.
Dr. Al Bayat said that so far nine out of ten elderly people have taken the vaccine. “That is not enough; we need them all to take the vaccine, because they are at higher risk of complications of this infection.”
She particularly urged pregnant women to get COVID-19 vaccine as it has no side effects. “Now about hundreds of thousands of pregnant women across the world have taken the vaccine with no notable serious side effects.”
Pregnant women, she said, have been found to have more serious infection compared to women of the same age. “That is why we encourage all pregnant women to take the vaccine to protect themselves.”