Schools reopening tomorrow

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Schools are set to reopen tomorrow after a week’s delay which was ordered as a precautionary step against the spread of H1N1 flu

By Anwar Elshamy
Staff Reporter

The Supreme Council of Health has confirmed that all schools in the country will reopen tomorrow, even as a senior official highlighted the WHO recommendation for closure of any school with more than 1% of students infected with the H1N1 swine flu.

The reopening of schools, originally scheduled last Sunday, was delayed by a week as a precaution measure against the spread of swine flu upon an order from Minister of Education and Higher Education and secretary general of Supreme Education Council HE Saad bin Ibrahim al-Mahmoud.

“The decision to close any school in case of 1% confirmed swine flu cases, will be subject to an assessment by health teams,” Public Health director Dr Mohamed bin Hamad al-Thani said yesterday.

The official told Qatar News Agency that the first consignment of the H1N1 vaccine will be received by the end of October and the delivery of the full order for 2mn vaccine units is expected to be complete in December.
Dr Mohamed al-Thani also allayed fears over the side effects of swine flu vaccine, saying that no scientific evidence showed H1N1 vaccine had caused any health concerns.

“We will not import or use any vaccine before it is certified by the International Medical Informatics Association to ensure that it the vaccine is safe and successfully tested,” he said.

“The first report of the IMIA says that the vaccine is strengthening one’s immunity to the swine flu virus. We are waiting for the second report which will decide whether the vaccine is safe and effective,” he stated.
The official also indicated that the H1N1 vaccine inoculation does not contradict with the planned seasonal flu shots, saying the mass vaccination against seasonal flu, which is expected to begin with the school reopening, will be optional for students, but mandatory for Haj pilgrims.

He reassured that the situation was stable in Qatar compared with several other countries, saying that only the three swine flue deaths reported in Qatar so far was a very low figure.

He added that the SCH would take part in the WHO regional Middle East office meeting, scheduled to be held in Morocco on Monday, which will review the situation of the swine flu spread in the region as well as the safety of the vaccine protecting from the virus.
Meanwhile, QNA reported that Qatar had received 280,000 doses of seasonal flu vaccine on Thursday and students will receive them starting from the last two days of the school week beginning tomorrow or early next week.
Dr Mohamed al-Thani said that forms were to be distributed to parents from tomorrow to obtain written approval for vaccinating their children.
The seasonal flu vaccine will help identify early symptoms of the H1N1 influenza and prevent serious complications.

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