The US-based Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says vaccination is one of the best ways parents can protect infants, children, and teens from 16 potentially harmful diseases that can be very serious, may require hospitalization, or even be deadly. And according to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), immunization programs benefit each vaccinated child and they halt the transmission of diseases to others. When a high proportion of the population living in a community is immunized, the ability of pathogens to reproduce is disrupted and ‘herd’ or ‘social’ immunity develops.
Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health’s Department of Health Protection and Communicable Disease Control and the expanded immunization program have developed an advanced and modern child immunization program. Currently, there are 12 vaccines used in the national program for basic vaccinations in the State of Qatar, providing children with immunity against 14 diseases including:
- Tuberculosis
- Whooping cough
- Measles
- Hepatitis B
- Rotavirus
- Diphtheria
- Paralysis
- Mumps
- Hepatitis A
- Chickenpox
- Tetanus
- Haemophilus influenzae (hemorrhagic influenza B)
- Rubella
- Pneumonia
Qatar’s current baby immunization schedule can be found here: https://www.moph.gov.qa/english/OurServices/eservices/Pages/Baby-Immunization%E2%80%8B%E2%80%8B.aspx
