Press Releases
SFH on human swine flu
Following is the transcript of remarks (English portion) made by the
Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, at a stand-up media session
after attending a public function today (November 30):
Reporter: (on dogs infected with human swine flu)
Secretary for Food and Health: There is always an opportunity for the virus
to spread from species to species. So the occurrence of that may not be that
unpredictable. Much more to our concern is what exactly has happened to the
dogs and whether it is transmitted from humans to dogs or between dogs
themselves. The other thing is whether the viral-genetic structure has
changed after the transmission. There is a lot of questions that need to be
answered before we can make a judgement of the indication of this
transmission. As you know, we have pet owners and pet breeders in Hong Kong,
so we want to know whether this is a tendency or this is a trend, so that we
can inform them accordingly. The Centre for Health Protection as well as the
Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department are following up on those
issues with their counterparts in the Mainland.
The Government is going to announce details of the H1N1 vaccination
programme this afternoon. Details will be given by Dr (Thomas) Tsang as well
as representatives of the bureau and the Hospital Authority.
Reporter: (on human swine flu vaccination programme)
Secretary for Food and Health: At the moment, we expect that the first half
of the million dosages of vaccine will be given to the high-risk groups.
Depending on the take-up rate of the high-risk groups, we will decide
whether we will release some of vaccines to the non-high-risk groups. But I
think for the first few weeks, we will concentrate on giving them to the
high-risk groups.
Reporters: (on human swine flu vaccination programme)
Secretary for Food and Health: We have to see what is the uptake trend in
the coming two months. The first batch will come in, I believe, before the
middle of December. So, at the moment, we decide that the vaccination
programme will start on December 21 for the high-risk groups. The second
batch will come in the middle of January and hopefully, by that time, we
will be able to judge whether we can release some vaccines to the private
sector and the non-high-risk groups.
(Please also refer to the
Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Monday, November 30, 2009
Issued at HKT 14:47
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