Press Releases
SFH on influenza vaccination subsidy scheme for young children
Following is the transcript of remarks made by the Secretary for Food and
Health, Dr York Chow, and the Controller of the Centre for Health Protection of
Department of Health, Dr Thomas Tsang, at a stand-up media session in the West
Wing lobby of Central Government Offices today (July 30):
Secretary for Food and Health: As you are aware, Hong Kong has serious flu
season last spring. This is the reason why we have reviewed the vaccination
programme of Hong Kong. Now, we have decided to extend the subsidy to the
younger children aged six or below, including those who are also enrolled in the
kindergartens and nurseries. Some of the children might be slightly over six but
they would still be included. The scheme is very simple. We subsidise $80 for
each injection for a child who is going to receive influenza vaccine. They also
include some of the children who may not have vaccine before, so they might need
actually two injections. In that case, we may subsidise $160. Private doctors
will be responsible for carrying out this scheme. They need to indicate their
interest and enroll in a register. Through the register, we will be able to
inform the public about the pricing of their services as well as the
availability of services in different districts. Dr Thomas Tsang will elaborate
more on the details.
Controller of the Centre for Health Protection: The influenza vaccination
subsidy scheme will start on November 1. It covers children between the age of
six months and less than six years. For the parents, it is very simple to follow
a few steps to get the child vaccinated and enjoy the subsidy. The first step is
to select a private doctor. The private doctor will display a logo at the
entrance of the clinic, so the parents can easily recognise which doctors are
participating in our scheme. The second step is for the child to bring along
some identity documents, for example, a birth certificate or a Hong Kong
identity card. That will suffice for the identification purpose. The third step
is to fill in a form at the doctor's clinic, basically authorising the doctor to
give the influenza injection. So a parent only has to follow these simple steps
and she can get the child vaccinated against influenza.
Reporter: How comes to $80?
Secretary for Food and Health: As I have explained earlier, having the average
price for buying vaccine from private clinics is about 65 to 70 odd dollars, so
$80 would cover actually all the current prices of various suppliers. That is
the reason why we set at $80. There is also an agreement between the Government
and the representatives of the doctors that they would not charge anything extra
for the vaccine that is being injected.
Reporter: How much does it cost?
Secretary for Food and Health: Depends on the uptake. If every child of the age
group, that is about 300,000, takes up this scheme, this would cost the
Government about $56 million a year.
Reporter: What strain of the flu would be included in the vaccination for the
next strain?
Controller of the Centre for Health Protection: We are following the WHO's
recommendation for the northern hemisphere, because Hong Kong is situated in
Asia. So the strains will cover Brisbane strain of influenza as well as a H1N1
strain of influenza. These are the strains that are circulating in Hong Kong
right now. So if the strains don't change from now on till the next flu season,
the vaccine match is going to be good.
Reporter: Will you extend the children under 12?
Secretary for Food and Health: We will review the programme after a year or two
to see whether there is an increase in the incidence of influenza that is
significantly diminishing, particularly young children in hospitalised because
of influenza. That is the reason given by the experts in the Scientific
Committee. The main reason for introducing the vaccine to young children is to
reduce the hospitalisation episode of such children because of influenza.
Reporter: The vaccination is effective for one year, would he need another ……
Controller of the Centre for Health Protection: The influenza vaccination is
effective for one year, as I've said earlier. If a child has not been vaccinated
for influenza before, he will require two doses as a start. But then next year,
he will only need one dose, and that will cover one year. The trick with
influenza, because the virus changes every year, so an annual vaccination is
necessary. It is not like some other vaccines which one dose will cover you for
life. For influenza you need annual vaccination.
Reporter: I understand that this can lower hospitalisation, but infection rate
is still higher among six years and older children. Would you comment on that
and why?
Secretary for Food and Health: May be Thomas can explain about the risk of
influenza. The epidemiology of influenza is different from other diseases.
Controller of the Centre for Health Protection: Actually the Scientific
Committee under the Centre for Health Protection has looked at all the data
including influenza illness, hospitalisation due to influenza and death due to
influenza. The primary reason why we focus on children between the age of six
months to less than six years is because these children have a higher rate for
hospitalisation due to influenza in Hong Kong. If we look at children above the
age of six, the hospitalisation rate due to influenza is not very different from
the rest of the population. So from a disease control perspective, it would be
wise to put our effort to vaccinate children less than six years first. Of
course it is true that influenza tends to affect younger children as well as
elderly. That is true in all countries. But influenza in most cases is a
self-limiting condition. The thing we are worrying about is more severe
influenza illnesses, complications and those requiring hospitalisation. And that
is why we are focusing our efforts on these young children.
Reporter: What other incentives for private doctors?
Secretary for Food and Health: Regarding any other incentives for private
doctors, I think the existing arrangement is already an incentive. As we have to
emphasise time and again that we are not trying to increase the business of
private doctors but rather to encourage the public to find a suitable family
doctor and primary care provider.
Controller of the Centre for Health Protection: Yes in fact we have a couple of
meetings with private medical doctors. You know the subsidy goes to the parent.
It does not go to the doctor himself. But we are very impressed by their support
because they want to work with us together to protect the health of the children
in Hong Kong. The public health is what matters. And I think the private sector
doctors have a very positive attitude to this aspect in this programme.
(Please also refer to the
Chinese session of the transcript.)
Ends/Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Issued at HKT 20:02
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