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Following is a question by the Hon Starry Lee and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (February 18):
Question:
During the peak of the influenza season in March last year, the Government set up an Expert Group to conduct an in-depth investigation into the deaths of three children with acute febrile illnesses. The investigation report released in April last year came up with 14 recommendations, including extension of the recommended age range of childhood vaccination for influenza. Subsequently, the Government launched the Influenza Vaccination Subsidy Scheme (IVSS) in November last year to encourage influenza vaccination of Hong Kong children between the age of six months and less than six years. It has been reported that up to end of last month, the coverage rate of IVSS was less than 30%. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the latest coverage rate of IVSS and what measures are in place to encourage influenza vaccination of more eligible children;
(b) whether the Government will accept the remaining 13 recommendations made by the Expert Group; if it will, of the details of and timetable for implementing the recommendations; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c) whether it will issue guidelines on whether schools should suspend classes in case of an influenza outbreak; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
(a) The Government introduced the Influenza Vaccination Subsidy Scheme (IVSS) in November 2008 to provide subsidy to encourage young children to receive influenza vaccinations from private doctors. To date, the Government has received applications for subsidy for over 100,000 injections of influenza vaccine, which include the first and second injections. The Scheme will last till the end of March this year. As there is still a month to go and there will be new applications during this period, the final coverage of IVSS will only be known and publicised after March.
Since September 2008, the Government has been promoting the IVSS by different means, including Announcements of Public Interest on television and radio, as well as distribution of relevant information to medical practitioners, child care centres, kindergartens, health services units and all Public Enquiry Services Centres of the Home Affairs Department. In addition, the Department of Health (DH) has visited and briefed the 18 District Councils on the IVSS and organised two briefings. DH has also set up a dedicated website to provide details of the Scheme and a hotline to answer public enquiries.
(b) DH and the Hospital Authority (HA) have already taken appropriate follow-up actions on the remaining 13 recommendations made by the Investigation Panel in relation to the acute febrile deaths in three children in early 2008. Details are given in Annex.
(c) In times of influenza outbreaks, the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) would consider advising the affected schools to suspend classes for a period of time to control the outbreak, having regard to factors including the number of affected persons, the number of severely ill persons, the number of persons requiring hospitalisation, the progression of the outbreak, whether it is responsive to control measures, etc. Details have been incorporated in the updated Guidelines on Prevention of Communicable Diseases in Schools/Kindergartens/Kindergartens-cum- Child Care Centres/Child Care Centres, which have been sent to schools and uploaded onto the CHP's website for reference by the general public (website: http://www.chp.gov.hk/files/pdf/School_full_eng_20090115.pdf).
Ends/Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Issued at HKT 15:46
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