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The Government's Influenza Vaccination Programme for 2005/06 will start on November 7 this year.
This was jointly announced by the Consultant of the Centre for Health Protection (CHP), Department of Health (DH), Dr Thomas Tsang, and Deputy Director (Professional Services) of the Hospital Authority (HA), Dr Liu Shao-Haei, at a press conference today (September 14).
The Government Programme was developed in accordance with the recommendations of the Scientific Committee on Vaccine Preventable Diseases (SCVPD) established under the CHP. It provides free influenza vaccinations to some of the target groups recommended by SCVPD. They include:
1. Elderly people living in residential care homes;
2. Long-stay residents of institutions for the disabled;
3. People aged 65 or above with chronic illness that has been treated in public clinics, and those aged 65 or above who are receiving CSSA
4. People under 65 with chronic illness who are on CSSA, and some HA in-patients who have chronic illness;
5. Health care workers of the DH, HA and other government departments, as well as health care workers in elderly homes or institutions for the disabled;
6. Poultry workers or staff who may be involved in poultry culling operations;
7. Children aged from six to 23 months from families receiving CSSA;
8. Pregnant women (in their second or third trimester) receiving CSSA.
Dr Tsang said this year's Government programme had expanded its scope from last year. Additional target groups covered include health care workers in elderly homes and institutions for the disabled, and some CSSA recipients who fall under the recommended target groups for vaccination.
"We expect that the Government Influenza Vaccination Program this year will cover about 250,000 people," Dr Tsang said.
He said the GIVP would start on November 7 and last until December 31, 2005. Some mop-up vaccinations were also expected in early 2006.
The private medical sector has expressed strong support for the influenza vaccination initiative and is geared up to provide influenza vaccinations to a major portion of the community. The private sector has a major and active role to play in providing influenza vaccinations to members of the community, since the majority of out-patient doctor consultations occur in the private sector. During last year's influenza season, private doctors vaccinated hundreds of thousands of people against influenza.
"Target groups recommended for influenza vaccination will find a good choice of service providers," Dr Tsang said.
In a collaborative endeavour to increase vaccine coverage, the CHP will send letters to all doctors in Hong Kong, providing them also with posters, adult immunisation cards and other materials to promote influenza vaccination.
Recommended vaccines to be used in the 2005/2006 season (northern hemisphere winter) contain –
A/New Caledonia/20/99(H1N1)-like virus
A/California/7/2004(H3N2)-like virus
B/Shanghai/361/2002-like virus
The vaccination should preferably be given at least two weeks before the arrival of the influenza season.
Last, but not least, the CHP is coordinating a large health promotion and publicity campaign to increase awareness of influenza and its prevention. The public can call the DH health education (pre-recorded) hotline at 2833 0111 for vaccination information. In addition, telephone hotlines 2285 8159 and 2285 8379 have been set up to answer public enquiries on the Vaccination Programme during office hours. The HA's hotline, 2300 6555 will also deal with public enquiries on the programme.
To prevent influenza and other respiratory tract infections, the public is advised to adopt a healthy lifestyle and adhere to good personal and environmental hygiene. They should:
* 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 blowing the nose;
* Maintain good ventilation;
* Avoid visiting crowded places with poor ventilation;
* Wear a mask if having symptoms of respiratory infection.
The Scientific Committee's recommendations can be accessed at CHP's website: www.chp.gov.hk
Ends/Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Issued at HKT 17:02
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