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The Scientific Committee on Vaccine Preventable Disease (SCVPD) under the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) today (May 30) released its recommendations for 2007-08 influenza season, recommending eight categories of people to receive vaccination against influenza.
A CHP spokesman said the SCVPD, after reviewing local and overseas scientific evidence regarding influenza vaccination, recommended that the following eight target groups, which were the same as those for last year, should receive influenza vaccination.
* Elderly people living in residential care homes;
* Long-stay residents of institutions for the disabled;
* Elderly people aged 65 years or above;
* Persons with chronic illnesses;
* Health care workers;
* Poultry workers;
* Children aged six to 23 months; and
* All pregnant women.
The spokesman said the recommendations were aimed to help the public and medical professionals to plan and place vaccine orders in a timely manner.
Based on the SCVPD recommendations, CHP has drawn up the Government Influenza Vaccination Programme (GIVP) for 2007-08, offering free vaccination to the following eight target groups of people.
* Elderly people living in residential care homes;
* Long-stay residents of institutions for the disabled;
* Elderly people aged 65 years or above with chronic illness and being followed up in public clinics, as well as those aged 65 years or above receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA);
* People under 65 years with chronic illness receiving CSSA, and some long-stay Hospital Authority in-patients who had chronic illness;
* Health care workers of Department of Health, Hospital Authority and other government departments, as well as health care workers in elderly homes or institutions for the disabled;
* Poultry workers or staff who may be involved in the poultry culling operations;
* Children aged from six to 23 months from families receiving CSSA; and
* All pregnant women receiving CSSA.
The spokesman said when drawing up the GIVP, factors including individual health risks, prevention of institutional outbreaks, financial means of vaccine recipients and pandemic influenza preparedness were considered.
People with chronic illness mainly refer to those who have chronic circulatory, lung, metabolic or renal diseases, and those whose immune response are reduced or defective.
The programme would start on November 5 and continue until the end of the year. Mop-up vaccinations in early 2008 would be arranged for some of those who had missed the vaccination arrangement, the spokesman said.
The Department of Health has liaised with the authority about the arrangement of the programme.
Noting that some 270,000 influenza vaccines were administered to eligible high risk people in 2006-07, as compared with 255,000 doses in 2005-06, the spokesman said the forthcoming GIVP would cover 300,000 people.
"The procurement procedure is under way for 300,000 doses of influenza vaccines," he said.
The SCVPD advised vaccines to be used are vaccines recommended by the World Health Organisation in the 2007-08 season (northern hemisphere winter), which will contain:
* A/Solomon Islands/3/2006(H1N1)-like virus;
* A/Wisconsin/67/2005(H3N2)-like virus, and
* B/Malaysia/2506/2004-like virus
As for target groups who were not covered by the GIVP, the spokesman urged them to consult their private doctors to enable them to place vaccine orders in a timely manner.
The spokesman said private doctors had a major and active role to play in providing influenza vaccinations to members of the community, since the majority of out-patient consultations occurred in the private sector.
"The success of influenza vaccination in the community requires collaboration between the public and private sectors. In this regard the CHP has already briefed local medical organisations about the GIVP this year in order to provide the private sector with sufficient time to plan for arrangements," he said.
In an effort to strengthen collaboration with all doctors and to increase vaccine coverage, the CHP will send letters to all doctors in Hong Kong to keep them informed about the GIVP for 2007-08.
To prevent influenza and other respiratory tract infections, the public are advised to adopt a healthy lifestyle and adhere to good personal and environmental hygiene. They should observe the following measures:
* Build up good body immunity by having a proper diet, regular exercise and adequate rest, reducing stress and avoiding smoking;
* Maintain good personal hygiene, and wash hands after sneezing, coughing or cleaning the nose;
* Maintain good ventilation;
* Avoid visiting crowded places with poor ventilation;
* Wear a mask if having symptoms of respiratory infections.
The Scientific Committee's recommendations can be accessed at CHP's website: http://www.chp.gov.hk.
Ends/Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Issued at HKT 16:15
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