The Chief Executive, Mr John Lee, led a number of Principal Officials to receive seasonal influenza vaccination (SIV) earlier and called on members of the public to get vaccinated as early as possible to build an immunity barrier in the community together and better protect their health and that of their family members. Mr Lee and some of the officials also received COVID-19 booster shots concurrently.

　　Mr Lee said, "Vaccination is one of the most effective means for preventing seasonal influenza and its complications, as well as reducing the risk of hospitalisation and death arising from influenza. The Department of Health (DH) had earlier reminded members of the public that Hong Kong has entered the summer influenza season. Members of the public should get vaccinated as early as possible to protect themselves and their family members."
 
　　Under the vigorous promotion by the Government and with the strong support from all sectors of the community, more than 2.09 million doses of SIV were administered under various government vaccination programmes in the year of 2024/25, representing an increase of nearly 12 per cent compared to the year of 2023/24, reaching a record high. As a result, the number of severe influenza cases and the influenza mortality rates among adults and children in the previous influenza season declined significantly compared to earlier periods, in particular those before the COVID-19 epidemic.
 
　　To encourage and offer convenience to members of the public to receive SIV, the Government will implement five optimising initiatives this year, namely expanding the eligibility coverage, further enhancing the SIV School Outreach Programme, providing recombinant influenza vaccines for the elderly living in institutions, launching the pilot scheme on vaccine procurement for family doctors, and optimising information dissemination. The Government will also continue implementing the Civil Service Eligible Persons SIV Pilot Scheme this year. Since civil servants frequently interact with members of the public, vaccinations can not only better safeguard their health, but also are conducive to reducing the risk of influenza transmission in the community.
 
　　The Secretary for Health, Professor Lo Chung-mau, said, "Various SIV programmes have been fully commenced on September 25 to provide free or subsidised SIV services for eligible persons. Among these are the Vaccination Subsidy Scheme (VSS), including the pilot scheme on vaccine procurement for family doctors which was newly introduced this year. The VSS has also been advanced by three days and launched on September 22. The scheme involves an additional procurement of 100 000 doses of injectable inactivated influenza vaccines by the Government to enable eligible family doctors to order vaccines from suppliers at a price according to Government-subsidised programmes. Since it takes about two weeks after receiving SIV for antibodies to develop in the body and provide protection against influenza virus infection, I once again urge members of the public to get vaccinated as early as possible. Get vaccinated once a year and sooner is better than later."
 
　　For more details, members of the public may call the Centre for Health Protection of the DH at 2125 2125 or visit the Vaccination Schemes page.

Ends/Friday, September 26, 2025
Issued at HKT 11:55

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