His Excellency the Umm Al-Qura University Vice President, Prof. Farid bin Ali Al-Ghamdi, yesterday (Thursday), launched the winter seasonal flu vaccination campaign at his office in Al-Abdiyyah. This took place in the presence of the Director General of the University Medical Center, Dr. Yassir Bahakim, and the campaign coordinator, Dr. Hisham Nabhan.

The campaign targets children aged less than 5 years, pregnant women, patients with chronic diseases, elderly people over 50 years, HIV patients, and morbidly obese patients.

Dr. Yassir Bahakim announced that the campaign will start on Sunday, 13 Rabi` Al-Awwal, 1441 A.H., and will continue until Thursday, 28 Jumada Al-Thani, 1441 A.H. The mobile and fixed vaccination teams will provide the vaccinations at the specified sites, in coordination with the vaccination campaign coordinators in the male and female sections. In addition, the University Medical Center in Al-Aziziyah will provide vaccinations at any time during the day throughout the period of the campaign, and so will the medical center at the Deanship of University Studies for Female Students in Al-Zahir Branch. This is to ensure that all the target groups of the campaign are vaccinated.

On his part, the Vice President explained that this campaign comes within the framework of the positive cooperation and continuous coordination with the Department of Public Health at the General Directorate of Health Affairs in Makkah Al-Mukarramah. The campaign targets all students and affiliates of the UQU colleges in general, and the departments and institutes in Makkah in particular.

According to the Ministry of Health, seasonal influenza is defined as an acute viral infection that attacks the respiratory system of human beings. It is caused by influenza viruses that infect the nose, throat, and sometimes the lungs. Symptoms can be mild to severe. The influenza infection affects all age groups, and annual vaccination is one of the most important means to help protect against it.