In support of World Immunisation Week organised by the World Health Organization (WHO) in the last week of April every year, the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health (DH) today (April 24) reminded the public that timely vaccinations can safeguard individual and community health from serious threats posed by vaccine-preventable diseases.
      
     "Immunisation is a safe and effective public health measure. Over the past 50 years, vaccines are effective against diseases that have saved more than 150 million lives worldwide. Hong Kong has long been providing vaccinations for children since the 1950s. Building on the WHO's Expanded Programme on Immunisation and scientific evidence, the Hong Kong Childhood Immunisation Programme has been making continuous progress in terms of vaccine variety, vaccination schedules and service network coverage. With the support of parents, schools and the healthcare sector, Hong Kong maintains a very high vaccination coverage rate, which not only keeps most of the vaccine-preventable diseases under control, but also contributed to the eradication of smallpox and poliomyelitis in Hong Kong in 1980 and 2000 respectively, followed by successful elimination of measles and rubella (German measles) in Hong Kong in 2016 and 2021 respectively. In addition, the DH has been actively adopting a public-private partnership approach in providing vaccination services through private doctors to help parents and children receive the vaccines to increase the overall vaccination coverage. Taking the seasonal influenza vaccine as an example, the uptake rate of the vaccine for most age groups in the current season has increased as compared with the previous one," the Controller of the CHP of the DH, Dr Edwin Tsui said.
      
     The Scientific Committee on Vaccine Preventable Diseases (SCVPD) under the CHP makes recommendations on vaccines for different groups (e.g. children, pregnant women, the elderly etc) based on local epidemiology and the latest scientific evidence from a public health perspective. With reference to the recommendations of the SCVPD, the Government provides different types of vaccines and boosters for children from birth to Primary Six to protect them from 12 communicable diseases, as well as other vaccination services such as seasonal influenza vaccine, pneumococcal vaccine, and the COVID-19 vaccines for people in high-risk groups to boost their immunity and reduce the risk of infection or severe complications.
      
     "Due to a drop in vaccination coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a recent resurgence of outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases outside Hong Kong. For example, measles cases in Europe, the United States and neighboring countries, such as Japan, Vietnam and Cambodia, are on the rise, where children who have not yet completed their vaccinations or have unknown vaccination status were mainly affected. For pertussis, the number of cases reported in Japan, the United States and New Zealand this year are also higher than that of the same period in previous years, with most of the affected cases being infants and adolescents, underscoring the importance of timely vaccinations for maintaining a high vaccination rate and herd immunity," Dr Tsui said.
      
     He reminded the public to make sure that they have completed their required immunisation if they plan to visit places with outbreaks or high incidences of vaccine-preventable diseases. Anyone who has not completed immunisation or with an unknown vaccination history should consult his/her family doctor at least two weeks before travelling.
      
     The incubation period of measles is seven to 21 days. Symptoms include fever, skin rash, cough, runny nose and red eyes. While for pertussis, the infected person may initially be sneezing and have a runny nose, a low-grade fever and a mild cough. The cough gradually becomes more severe and may even lead to seizures and coma in severe cases. If such symptoms appear after returning from places where measles and pertussis are endemic, people should wear surgical masks, stay home from work or school, avoid crowded places and seek medical advice as soon as possible.
      
     For more information on the World Immunisation Week 2025, please visit the CHP website.

Ends/Thursday, April 24, 2025
Issued at HKT 17:00

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