Saudi Arabia launched the national swine flu vaccination campaign here Saturday, initially focusing on some half-a-million pilgrims from within the Kingdom and health personnel deputed to work during the Haj. Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeah, Minister of Health, and his eight-year-old daughter Hana Al-Rabeah were the first to receive the A-H1N1 flu shots at a crowded press conference. Dr. Al-Rabeah said a million doses of the vaccine will cover the first stage of the campaign. During the next two weeks the swine flu vaccination campaign will cover other parts of the country, he said. “We strongly recommend that everybody should get vaccinated,” the minister said. Dr. Rabeah said the swine flu vaccination campaign will first cover the local pilgrims, health workers and security personnel. In the second phase of the campaign, schoolchildren will be vaccinated, he said. Asked if foreign pilgrims should also take the shots before embarking on the holy journey, Dr. Rabeah said the Kingdom had not made the swine flu vaccination mandatory for pilgrims. He, however, said the health ministry has strongly recommended the countries sending pilgrims to vaccinate them before the start of their journey. Dr. Rabeah, himself a renowned surgeon, tried to calm the concerns of parents about the safety of the vaccination. “I have taken the adjuvant vaccine to tell them that even adjuvant vaccine is safe and I gave it to my daughter in public because we've been studying this for the last few months,” the health minister said. “We're confident that it is similar to seasonal flu vaccine and we feel that it is safe.” Dr. Al-Rabeah said only two cases of swine flu have been reported so far among the half million pilgrims who have already arrived in the Kingdom.
