Freetown — The Ministry of Health and Sanitation on Tuesday 20th July launched the start of a four day national Influenza A H1N1 immunization campaign. The vaccination campaign will target about 600,000 people including health workers, pregnant women and children age 6-12 months and persons with chronic disease conditions.

The campaign was launched in Freetown by Dr Kisito Daoh, the Chief Medical Officer. In His statement he said the vaccine is safe and will protect those vaccinated individuals against the H1N1 influenza. He further expressed his gratitude to the World Health Organisation for making the vaccine available.

Dr Wondimagegnehu Alemu, WHO Representative, reaffirmed the safety and quality of the vaccine and congratulated the government for joining other countries in protecting their citizens against the Influenza A H1N1.

He said the vaccine has been administered to millions of people around the world and no major adverse effect following the immunization was documented. He further stated that the vaccine is as safe as any seasonal influenza vaccine could be. The first dose of the vaccine was administered to Dr Daoh followed by Dr Alemu and other senior officials of the WHO and the Ministry of Health and Sanitation.

Influenza A H1N1 was declared a pandemic by the Director General of WHO in May 2009. Since then the flu has been reported in many countries including in the sub-region. Despite its spread, there has not been any confirmed case of the flu in Sierra Leone. Nevertheless, authorities here believe that prevention is better than cure.