Ministry of Health has announced that respiratory syncytial virus -RSV vaccine is now available in Saudi Arabia

The Ministry of Health has declared that all Saudi Arabian citizens 60 years of age and older can now receive the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine. 

The Ministry's Assistant Deputy Minister for Preventive Health and Infectious Diseases Consultant, Dr. Abdullah Asiri, urged people who qualified to schedule a vaccination by contacting their family physician through the "Sehhaty" app. He underlined the importance of RSV in raising the risk of cardiac arrests and as a primary cause of respiratory infections.

He pointed out that RSV is a key factor in pneumonia and related fatalities among the elderly, as well as a leading cause of hospitalization in the first year of life. It is anticipated that the vaccination will greatly lessen the health impact of this enduring virus. 

Dr. Asiri stated earlier in January that Saudi Arabia would be the fifth nation to utilize and introduce the RSV vaccination for individuals 65 years of age and older, after the vaccine was approved in the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and Japan. Approval of an additional vaccination intended to protect infants throughout their first six months of life is also planned.