Bandar Seri Begawan - The Ministry of Health (MoH) will resume the mass Influenza A (H1N1) vaccination for students tomorrow, starting with Sultan Omar All Saifuddien College and Sayyidina Hassan Secondary School at the makeshift vaccination centre at National Indoor Stadium.

The MoH stated in February that they would initially focus the vaccination programme in secondary schools, eventually including kindegartens and primary schools. The school vaccinations are expected to continue until May with an estimated 20,000 students to be immunised in Brunei-Muara district alone and is expected to cover all government schools in the four districts.

All parents are required to sign a consent form allowing their children to be vaccinated before they can be inoculated. Over 4,000 students received the H1N1 jab during the first week of the school inoculation programme in February. The programme was suspended two weeks later on February 13, when the MoH issued a statement saying that a new batch of vaccines needed to be tested to make sure it met the ministry's quality and safety standards before being released to the public.

A doctor at one of BruneiMuara district's vaccination centres said that children are one of the high risk groups easily susceptible to the Influenza A virus. "School children stay in very close quarters and often don't have good hygiene practices compared to adults and the virus is easily spread. Their immune systems are also not as strong as adults and they easily fall prey to flu and other infectious diseases," said the doctor, who did not want to be named.

The doctor reiterated that the public should not be turned off getting the H1N1 jab because of potential side effects such as fever and flu. "People in temperate climates get the seasonal flu vaccine every year. It's not something to be afraid of. Bruneians are lucky because they are vaccinated for free." However, some members of the public expressed their reluctance in getting the H1N1 jab. A PhD student, Reza Ali, said that he did not feel that H1N1 was a threat to him, adding that people die from complications from the common cold every year.

"I don't think the disease itself is that dangerous, but the vaccine could have long-term side effects that we don't even know about yet." "Vaccines usually have years and years of research behind them, I just think that this vaccine has been rushed out so that pharmaceutical companies can profit from public panic," he said. Reza added: "I think the media has played up this 'pandemic'. First it was Sars and then avian flu. Relatively few people have actually died from those diseases."

A teacher at a secondary school who wanted to be known as Mrs. Lim, said that her husband advised her against getting the vaccine because he "doesn't trust" the safety of the drug. "My husband feels like the vaccine is still new and has not been thoroughly tested. Besides, there is no definitive proof that the vaccine is 100 per cent effective." she said. -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

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