RIYADH, 18 February 2004 — A study conducted in Riyadh has revealed that a growing number of parents, including some doctors, neglect to have their children vaccinated in the second stage. This puts the children at risk of infection. “The stresses and strains of modern life cause parents to forget the dates of their children’s vaccinations,” Dr. M.R. Suresh, pediatrician at Shifa Al-Jazira, told Arab News.

In view of the Kingdom’s high birth rate of 3.5 percent annually, Dr. Suresh said women should not expose their babies to crowds since the infants are highly vulnerable to infections.

“If no vaccination is given to children at the school-entry level, they become vulnerable to a number of infectious diseases. There is an urgent need to educate parents about this,” Dr. Suresh said.

The Ministry of Health’s National Immunization Program aims at preventing ten infectious diseases: tuberculosis, hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, poliomyelitis, hemophilus influenza type b infections, measles, mumps and rubella. Polio vaccine is given orally, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough and hemophilus influenza type b vaccines are combined in a single injection (Quadruple Vaccine). Mumps, measles and rubella can also be combined in a single injection (MMR).

The Health Ministry has also recently introduced pneumococcal vaccination programs for the control of respiratory diseases in the Kingdom.

The availability of pneumococcal vaccines is expected to help check respiratory diseases among children in the Kingdom.

Health Ministry officials point out that as a result of the immunization program, vaccinations have been given to 95-97 of children.

Asked if he had vaccinated his children against infectious diseases in the second stage, Mohammed Al-Otaibi, a Saudi government employee, said he had not although they had been vaccinated at birth.

A similar response came from an Indian housewife.

“Many of us forget to immunize our children by giving them the booster. We should stick to the timetable although we seem to let it slip our minds,” she said.