Saudis refuse to give their kids swine flu vaccine

A startling majority of parents in Saudi Arabia have refused to allow the government to administer the swine flu vaccine to their children due to fear of negative side effects.

The Saudi Ministry of Education distributed more than 10 million forms for parents to sign to authorize the vaccination of their children in kindergarten and elementary schools.

But more than 80 percent of the forms were returned with a rejection with fear of side effects believed to be the most likely reason as the form does not require a justification for the rejection.

According to the form, the vaccine is safe and side effects are only nausea and a slight rise in body temperature in addition to the fatigue for a couple of days, which makes it no different to other vaccines for other diseases.

The form also says that the vaccine is authorized by the World Health Organization and world drug and food associations and insists it is necessary to get vaccinated for protection against from swine flu.

Prince of Riyadh Province Salman bin Abdul-Aziz launched the swine flu vaccination campaign in coordination with the ministries of health and education. The campaign, which encompasses all the provinces of the kingdom, starts with vaccinating kindergarten and elementary school children and teachers, followed by students in more senior educational stages. People with special needs are also included in the campaign.

Parents who refuse to get their children vaccinated have the right to change their minds within the duration of the campaign, which lasts for five weeks.

I did not take the vaccine when I went to pilgrimage. How then can I give it to my kids

Sultan K.-- a teacher

Don’t trust media pictures

Al Arabiya met with several heads of elementary schools and they all attributed the parents' rejection to lack of trust in the vaccine and fear of the much-publicized side effects despite all official affirmations to the contrary.

Many of them also refused to get their kids vaccinated.

"I did not take the vaccine when I went to pilgrimage. How then can I give it to my kids?" said Sultan K., a teacher.

Sultan, like many parents who rejected the vaccine, argues that the side effects of the shot are quite serious and that there is no way to judge now since they could appear five years later.

School counselor Abdullah al-Sayed agreed with Sultan and argued that distrust played a major role in parents' rejection.

"I personally do not trust pictures in the media of people taking the vaccine even if they include top officials," he told Al Arabiya. "How would I know what this vaccine is made of?"

The vaccination campaign did not go as planned due to the apprehension of parents about the side effects, said Mohamed al-Moshawah, head of the Ministry of Education bureau in the northwestern city of al-Rawda.

"First grade students in al-Rawda amount to 5,000, studying in more than 137 elementary schools," he told the Saudi edition of al-Hayat.

Laila al-Ohaideb, Director of PR and Educational Media at the Girls' Education Division in Riyadh, said that a medical team visited more than 1,296 girls' schools to vaccinate the students, whose number amounts to 175,000, but the majority refused.

There are no official statistics yet of the girls who took the vaccination, she added, since the exact figures will only be clear by the end of the next week.

Education officials instructed the staff working in clinics affiliated to schools to follow up on the progress of the campaign and to take part in promoting the vaccine and highlighting its protective role to make sure the targets of the campaign are achieved within the scheduled time.

More than 65 million people worldwide have taken the swine flu vaccine with only 30 deaths and sporadic cases of minor side effects.



(Translated from the Arabic by Sonia Farid)

I personally do not trust pictures in the media of people taking the vaccine even if they include top officials

School counselor