WCMC-Q's students active in latest immunization drive

So students from Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar (WCMC-Q) have wasted no time in volunteering for the National Health Authority's (NHA) latest Multi-Antigen Mass Immunization Campaign.

This week in Doha, the students will join teams of doctors and nurses from the NHA's Communicable Disease Control & Prevention section, in the second round of the campaign. The focus is on providing children with immunizations that offer protection from the wild polio virus, measles, mumps and rubella and pneumococcal disease, a leading cause of bacterial meningitis.

WCMC-Q students will actively participate in the administration of the oral polio vaccine (OPV) to children aged two months to five years in schools and kindergartens, and assist health care professionals in administering the other vaccines.

With previous experience of the NHA's 2005 immunization campaign, and knowledge of the relevant diseases, vaccine storage procedures and administration of the vaccines gained during workshops at Hamad Medical Corporation, students are well prepared for the coming round.

An essential element of the campaign is also to raise community awareness of the importance of immunization. The week's round follows WCMC-Q student participation in health awareness sessions at Doha's Landmark shopping mall in November, where students engaged with the local community about the campaign.

First year pre-medical student and volunteer Salman Al Jerdi said: "During the workshops we learned about the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine so we can give parents information during round two. As medicine is not just about science, but about educating the community about health, I consider this an important part of the campaign."

Mouayyad Zaza, also a pre-medical student at WCMC-Q, commented: "I'm interested in helping others and I really want to be involved in any aspect of medical treatment that I can."

"As pre-medical students we should be exposed to these kinds of activities so, if we get into medical school, we have experience dealing with patients."

* World Health Organization website, 'Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals' (www.who.int/immunization/en/)


IM_4821.JPG: WCMC-Q pre-medical student Salman Al Jerdi (left) was among those students distributing leaflets about immunization at Landmark shopping mall in November.

IM_4829.JPG: WCMC-Q pre-medical student Youssef Francis gets behind the National Health Authority's Multi-Antigen Mass Immunization Campaign, as he takes a question from an interested community member.