Dr. Lam Urges Hong Kong Schools to Prioritize Seasonal Influenza Vaccinations for Children

Director of Health visits kindergarten to inspect arrangements for Seasonal Influenza Vaccination school outreach activity, and encourages schools and parents in Hong Kong to promptly arrange for their children to be vaccinated in order to build strong immunity barrier

The Director of Health, Dr Ronald Lam, visited Po Leung Kuk Yip Ng Bun Bun Kindergarten in Tseung Kwan O this morning (November 11) to inspect the arrangements for the Seasonal Influenza Vaccination School Outreach Programme (SIVSOP). He urged schools and parents across Hong Kong to arrange for schoolchildren to receive seasonal influenza vaccinations (SIV) as soon as possible, in order to reduce the risk of serious illness or death from seasonal influenza.

"Thanks to the careful preparation and thoughtful arrangements by school administrators and outreach medical teams, the vaccination outreach activity has been smooth and orderly, regardless of whether students chose the live attenuated influenza vaccines (i.e. nasal LAIV) or the injectable inactivated influenza vaccines (IIV). The SIVSOP began slightly more than a month ago. Since then, more than 1 900 participating schools have completed the outreach vaccination activities, and the rest are expected to finish by mid-December. In this regard, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the schools and the outreach medical teams for their strong support. Together, we have built a solid immunity barrier in schools to protect our children and reduce their risk of serious illness or death from seasonal influenza," said Dr Lam.

"To encourage schoolchildren to receive SIV, the Government has introduced a new Electronic Consent Form (e-consent form) feature on the eHealth mobile application this year to streamline the procedures. The e-consent form not only significantly simplifies the process for parents to repeatedly fill in personal particulars, but also effectively reduces the administrative workload of schools and outreach medical teams by streamlining the verification process. This has been one of the key factors that enabled the vaccination activities this year to be completed ahead of schedule. The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) will continue to review and optimise its services to provide the greatest convenience to schools, parents and outreach medical teams," Dr Lam continued.

This year, the CHP continued to allow schools to opt for the "hybrid mode", which provides both the IIV and the nasal LAIV during the same outreach vaccination activity. The CHP began accepting school enrolments for the 2026/27 SIVSOP as early as the beginning of June this year. With the concerted efforts of the Government and various community sectors (including the medical sector and schools), over 2 200 schools (99 per cent of the total) will arrange SIV school outreach activities. The first school outreach activity took place on September 18, i.e. the day after the commencement of the SIVSOP. All in all, this season's school outreach activities will generally be completed earlier than last season's.

The Controller of the CHP, Dr Edwin Tsui, who accompanied Dr Lam during the visit, said, "The CHP's epidemiological investigation indicated that the characteristics of severe or death cases related to seasonal influenza during this influenza season are similar to those in previous years, affecting primarily the elderly and children. Only through close co-operation among the Government, schools and parents to increase vaccination coverage can we effectively strengthen the immune barrier for schoolchildren. Hong Kong entered the influenza season in late June this year, and the influenza season has lasted for more than four months by now. The latest surveillance data showed that the overall influenza activity has declined but remains above the baseline levels. A cumulative total of 29 cases of severe paediatric influenza infection have been recorded in the current influenza season. Among these cases, 22 patients have recovered and been discharged from hospital, two are in stable condition, three are in critical condition, and two have passed away. The CHP's analysis of data from the previous year revealed that the rate of severe complications or death among unvaccinated children following influenza infection was approximately five times higher than that among vaccinated children. The CHP also analysed the severe influenza cases of this season and found that the vast majority involved high-risk factors, including underlying health conditions or failure to receive SIV for this season."

Dr Tsui emphasised that all individuals aged 6 months or older, except those with known contraindications, should act promptly to receive SIV if they have not yet done so, including individuals who contracted influenza during the summer influenza season, to guard against other circulating virus strains that may emerge during the upcoming winter influenza season.

To facilitate members of the public in receiving SIV, eligible persons may receive SIV at about 270 public service points, including around 110 designated clinics under the Department of Health located in various districts across the territory (including all 29 Maternal and Child Health Centres (MCHCs) for all children aged 6 months to under 2 years); 76 Family Medicine Clinics and 38 public hospitals under the Hospital Authority; and 45 District Health Centres, District Health Centre Expresses and their service points under the Primary Healthcare Commission. For the list of vaccination venues, please refer to the CHP's SIV Programmes webpage. Parents/guardians of eligible children may also book a vaccination appointment for their children at designated MCHCs via the online booking system.

Furthermore, over 1 900 private doctors currently participate in the Vaccination Subsidy Scheme (VSS), providing services at over 3 200 service points across all districts in Hong Kong. For the list of VSS doctors, please visit apps.hcv.gov.hk/public/en/SPS/Search.

Members of the public may refer to the CHP's Seasonal Influenza Webpage and Vaccination Schemes Webpage for details of the latest influenza activity and vaccination schemes.

Director of Health visits kindergarten to inspect arrangements for Seasonal Influenza Vaccination school outreach activity, and encourages schools and parents in Hong Kong to promptly arrange for their children to be vaccinated in order to build strong immunity barrier Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Director of Health visits kindergarten to inspect arrangements for Seasonal Influenza Vaccination school outreach activity, and encourages schools and parents in Hong Kong to promptly arrange for their children to be vaccinated in order to build strong immunity barrier Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Director of Health visits kindergarten to inspect arrangements for Seasonal Influenza Vaccination school outreach activity, and encourages schools and parents in Hong Kong to promptly arrange for their children to be vaccinated in order to build strong immunity barrier Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Director of Health visits kindergarten to inspect arrangements for Seasonal Influenza Vaccination school outreach activity, and encourages schools and parents in Hong Kong to promptly arrange for their children to be vaccinated in order to build strong immunity barrier Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

Import of poultry meat and products from areas in Korea and Netherlands suspended

The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department announced today (November 11) that in view of notifications from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs of Korea about an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N9 avian influenza in Jangheung-gun of Jeonnam-Gwangju and an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in Yeoju-si of Gyeonggi-do Province in Korea, and a notification from the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) about an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in the Province of Gelderland in the Netherlands, the CFS has instructed the trade to suspend the import of poultry meat and products (including poultry eggs) from the above-mentioned areas with immediate effect to protect public health in Hong Kong.

The Centre for Food Safety. Photo source: reference image

A CFS spokesman said that according to the Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong imported about 80 tonnes of frozen poultry meat and about 11.48 million poultry eggs from Korea, and about 790 tonnes of frozen poultry meat from the Netherlands in the first nine months of this year.

"The CFS has contacted the Korean and Dutch authorities over the issues and will closely monitor information issued by the WOAH and the relevant authorities on the avian influenza outbreaks. Appropriate action will be taken in response to the development of the situation," the spokesman said.

Source: AI-found images