A vaccination campaign against measles and rubella viruses was announced on Tuesday , targeting 16 million children.
Vaccination is free of charge for Egyptian and non-Egyptian children residing in the country.
The campaign will run from 8 to 26 March.
The campaign come within the framework of the state’s vision to advance public and community health, contributing effectively to achieving sustainable development, according to a statement from the Ministry of Health.
Spokesperson at the Ministry Khaled Mogahed, said that the campaign aims to vaccinate children in all governorates, noting that the vaccination will be for children aged 9 months to 6 years old.
Vaccination will be available in all governorates with the exception of border provinces, which include; Aswan, New Valley, Red Sea, Matrouh, North Sinai, and South Sinai. In the mentioned governorates children from 9 months to 10 years old will be vaccinated in order to ensure increasing rates of immunity in these governorates that are frequent destinations for non-Egyptians and tourists, and which have many entrances, such as airports.
He said vaccination in the rural areas will be from house to house to reach all targeted children, however, in urban regions, children will be vaccinated by mobile teams in the streets with fixed teams in health centres, health offices, rural units, and maternal and child care centres from 9 to 5 o’clock. He noted that fixed teams will be placed next to mosques, churches, clubs, markets, metro stations, travel car parks, and parks.
According to Mogahed, more than 10,000 medical teams, 5,740 well trained doctors will participate in the campaign. The ministry of health is providing supervisory teams, at health departments, and medical zones, and coordinators at schools and nurseries.
