Saudi won't bar hajj pilgrims over swine flu fears

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Published: November 7, 2009

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — The Saudi health minister said Saturday that the kingdom will not ban anyone considered high risk for swine flu from performing the hajj pilgrimage this year.

Abdullah al-Rabeeah said it is the responsibility of individual countries to enforce recommendations by international health experts that children, the elderly and pregnant women forgo this year's pilgrimage.

"Saudi Arabia does not ban anyone because hajj is a religious event," al-Rabeeah told reporters. "Saudi Arabia has put in place strong recommendations that we hope individual countries will abide by."

Al-Rabeeah spoke at the launch of a national swine flu vaccine campaign. The minister, who is also a surgeon, rolled up his sleeve and took the first shot. He then administered the vaccine to one of his twin daughters, Hana, 8. Her sister Haifa did not get the vaccine because she contracted swine flu recently.

Al-Rabeeah said a million doses of the vaccine will cover the first stage of the campaign. Pilgrims residing in Saudi Arabia, health workers and other officials involved in hajj, especially in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, top the vaccination priority list.

The hajj, a pilgrimage required of all able-bodied Muslims at least once in their lifetime, attracts about 3 million people from 160 countries every year. The density of the pilgrims, with the shoulder-to-shoulder contact as they pray, has raised fears of a massive spread of swine flu, which has killed 66 people in Saudi Arabia so far.

To address those concerns, the government invited international experts, including groups from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization, in June to a four-day conference to examine Saudi measures to prevent the spread of the disease during the Muslim pilgrimage.

The conference recommended that the elderly, pregnant women, people with chronic diseases and children skip hajj this year.

It also urged that the kingdom maintain adequate screening for the virus at entry points and that pilgrims receive flu shots at least two weeks before they travel to Mecca and Medina and the swine flu vaccine once it is available. The pilgrimage begins Nov. 25.

Al-Rabeeah said only two cases of swine flu have been reported so far among the half a million pilgrims who have already arrived in the kingdom.

Asked whether fewer pilgrims are expected to attend because of swine flu concerns, al-Rabeeah said: "There are indications there will an increase."

Al-Rabeeah said CDC experts are already at health centers in Mecca to assess the need for the free anti-viral medication stockpiled for the dense gathering.

Other preparations include thermal screening equipment at entry points to detect passengers with fevers, rapid reporting of illnesses from a network of hospitals and clinics back to the emergency operations center and special hospitals for quarantining those who catch the disease.