Egypt’s Ministry of Health and Population announced on Sunday that 8.4 million children had received the hepatitis B vaccine within the Hepatitis Control Programme, at 271 health units nationwide in 2022.
According to a statement from the Health Ministry on Sunday, the vaccination process is an implementation of a strategic plan aimed at limiting the spread of hepatitis viruses of all kinds, especially hepatitis B, and reducing infection rates, in line with fulfilling the vision Egypt 2030, in line with the global goals of sustainable development.
Hossam Abdel Ghaffar, the official spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Population, stated that the programme attained great success by vaccinating a large number of target groups, which included 2.04 million newborns (the zero dose) during the first 24 hours of birth, in addition to 6.2 million children under 6 months of age.
Abdel Ghaffar added that 68,946 medical teams working in the ministry’s hospitals were vaccinated, in addition to 48,317 dialysis patients, and 4,444 contacts of positive cases of virus carriers, in addition to providing vaccinations to 47,700 of the target groups.
He noted that 1,136 newborns of affected mothers were vaccinated using the “immunoglobulin” serum, which plays a key role in strengthening and protecting the child’s immune system.
Amr Qandil, the Assistant Minister of Health and Population for Preventive Medicine, explained that the ministry provides free vaccination against hepatitis B to all target groups, explaining that the target groups for vaccination include health care workers, dialysis patients, organ transplant patients, contacts of the infected, students of health and nursing institutes, and cleaners.
Qandil stressed the ministry’s keenness to spread health awareness and education to prevent infection with hepatitis B virus, by organizing educational seminars in health units, offices and hospitals in all governorates, in addition to educating citizens about preventive and precautionary measures to avoid infection with any epidemic infection.
