Rush• on meningitis
•
•
vaccine raises price
Official urges residents not to panic as adequate quantities
of vaccines are available from the Health Department
ZARINAKHAN
NEWS REPORTER
The price of the meningitis vaccine have gone up by 60 per
cent in some Dubai pharmacies as panicked parents rush
to get their children inoculated. The UAE Ministry of
Health says this is completely unnecessary.
"I received a call just an
hour ago, telling me that the
cost of a meningitis vaccine
had gone up from Dh120 to
Dh200 because people are.
privately choosing to vaccinate their children. I must
urge the public not to listen
to any announcement saying
they need such a measure," Dr
Mariam
Mattar,
assistant
under-secretary
of Public
Health at the Ministry of
Health told Emirates Today
yesterday.
Parents are taking the unadvised action following the disclosure that four pupils at an
unlicensed
Dubai
nursery
.tested positive for bacterial
meningitis last month.
"If there is a need for vaccinations of the public, we
have enough of a stockpile of
vaccines to do that without the
public relying on the private
sector," she clarified.
Meningococcal
disease is
caused by bacteria and generally affects the young and
those With compromised immunity. A meningitis infection
causes fluid to surround the
brain and spinal cord, leading to blood infection.
The four children, however, were discovered to have the
disease before it could reach
a serious situation and are now
in a stable condition at a Dubai
Government hospital.
The three-year protective
jab available in the UAE can
guard against one type of the
bacteria that leads to the infection, but is not included in
the usual course of vaccines
required for children. It is only
prescribed to Hajis and for
travellers visiting countries
where the incidence of meningitis is high.
If a UAE resident is not
going for Haj, travelling to a
high-risk country, or likely to
come in direct contact with
meningitis infectees through
work, they do not need to be
inoculated, experts say.
But that has not stopped
some residents from a knee-
jerk reaction to the Deira outbreak, ordering their doctors
to prescribe
the vaccine,
which in turn has pushed up
its cost.
"The reaction to the outbreak has made the selling of
the vaccine a business. This is
not right or necessary," Dr
Mattar said.
She clarified that the public should not worry about
coming down with the disease, as no further infections
of meningitis have been seen
since February 1.
Only some 220 residents of
the building where the outbreak occurred need any prophylactic treatment, and they
have been put on medication
in case they contracted the
disease, that is spread by lung
and throat droplets.
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