*******************************
Following is a transcript (English portion) of a media session by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, after his visit to an elderly home in Aberdeen to inspect the implementation of the Government Influenza Vaccination Programme today (November 7):
Dr Chow: We are very well aware of the risk of influenza and would like to stress, particularly the three different types of influenza that a lot of people get confused. One is the seasonal influenza which hits us every year around the winter time. The other one is avian influenza which is something that mostly affects chickens but occasionally can also affect human beings that is now being reported. The other concern is (influenza) pandemic which is something that we predict may happen in the future but actually we do not have any evidence that it is emerging yet.
For Hong Kong, I think we are very much concerned about the seasonal influenza at this point of time because the peak season is usually from January to March. We would like to vaccinate all the people at risk who may develop complications or who have chronic illnesses. That is the reason why we are now vaccinating all the people who are staying in old age homes and institutions. We predict, altogether, roughly 60,000 of elderly people will be involved. We also need to vaccinate those people who take care of them. It is roughly another 15,000.
The Government has prepared altogether 250,000 vaccines. So, it is sufficient for all eight special groups of people and sectors that are required to be vaccinated.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript)
Ends/Monday, November 7, 2005
Issued at HKT 13:15
NNNN
