Students Fall Sick After H1N1 Jab

TAIF: Eleven students who fell ill after taking the swine flu jab are now safe and sound, according to Health Affairs Department in Taif.

Spokesman Saeed Al-Zahrani said the students, all from the same school, had to be rushed to the local children’s hospital after receiving the H1N1 vaccination.

“The medical examination proved that all of them were in good health and not affected in any way,” he added.

Al-Zahrani believed the students had suffered from what he termed “a communal psychological fear” after one of them developed a slight headache after receiving the jab. He said it was because the pupil was already suffering from an underlying health condition.

“This happens in all schools after vaccination against any diseases,” he added. Al-Zahrani said side effects of the H1N1 vaccination include slight pain, inflammation of the part of the body vaccinated, a slight headache, muscle pain, slight fever and nausea.

He said 315 medical teams, which toured schools in the city, did not record any cases of sickness among students who had received the shot. Around 1,500 students have been vaccinated during the campaign, which will last for five weeks. Al-Zahrani asked all parents to vaccinate their children and said fears about the vaccination were not justified. “The government is very keen to preserve the safety and security of the population. The people should not listen to baseless rumors circulated by certain sites on the Internet.”

He recalled that over 65 million people around the world have been vaccinated against swine flu with no side effects. He added that 13,000 people who had not been vaccinated had died from swine flu, with a further 200,000 catching the disease.