To calm fears, Saudi minister gets H1N1 vaccine on TV

In a televised event aimed at calming fears about the safety of the H1N1 vaccine, Saudi Arabia’s health minister was the first person in the country to receive the vaccination Saturday.

A spokesman for the Saudi Health Ministry said that after Abdullah Al-Rabeeah got the vaccine, his daughter and several other government officials received it.

After the government strongly recommended the vaccine to people coming to the country for the Hajj, a pilgrimage required of Muslims at least once in their lives, the vaccinations became a thorny issue in Saudi Arabia and some neighboring countries.

Health officials have been concerned about how to keep the virus, also known as swine flu, from spreading among the millions of visitors expected in Saudi Arabia during this year’s Hajj.

Televising the health minister rolling up his sleeve for the shot will help calm fears, Saudi’s Health Ministry said.

The health minister said, “I have taken the adjuvant vaccine to tell them that even adjuvant vaccine is safe and I gave it to my daughter in public because we’ve been studying this for the last few months.”

(article and photo source: CNN)

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