Vaccination of Children during Lockdown

Saturday 2nd of May 2020

Vaccination of Children during Lockdown

Hulhumale Hospital has made an announcement, stating that the hospital will be resuming services for immunization, Vitamin A and deworming for children below 15 years of age from 3rd May. The hospital emphasizes that these will be provided on a strictly appointment only basic, in order to maintain physical distancing.

Immunization services take place on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10am to 2pm at Little Gems Preschool in Hulhumale. For appointments, call 1417 daily between 8am to 4pm and be prepared to reveal full name of the child and ID card number, date of birth, permanent and current address, details of the last vaccine given and the name and ID card number of the parent.

Further, the hospital asks parents to not bring children for vaccination if they have symptoms of fever, cold, cough or breathing difficulties, or if the house the child lives is under quarantine or monitoring by HPA. During the appointment call, the hospital will also be enquiring about this.

In many countries the COVID-19 lockdown has interrupted routine immunization services exposing children to preventable diseases. Mothers, fathers, caregivers are faced with various challenges to reach health facilities to seek for health care services including immunization for their children as some immunization centres are closed while others lack vaccines.