Press Releases
SFH on human swine flu vaccine (with photo)
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 receiving human swine flu vaccination at Sai Wan Ho General
Out-patient Clinic today (December 17):
Reporter: (Question on banning Mainland people coming to Hong Kong for
vaccination)
Secretary for Food and Health: I don't think we can actually use the word
"ban". Actually we have encouraged private doctors and they have agreed that
priority be given to Hong Kong patients and particularly in the coming few
weeks, i.e. the first few weeks of the (vaccination) campaign, we should
focus on giving vaccinations to the high-risk groups.
Reporter: (Question on the safety of vaccine)
Secretary for Food and Health: I think the vaccines have been assessed very
carefully by the expert committee of the Centre for Health Protection and it
will definitely protect the high-risk groups. The chance for them developing
side-effects is much lower than the effects when they actually have
influenza and then develop complications resulting perhaps in more severe
illnesses or even death. So, I think it is important to remind those in the
high-risk groups that they should seek vaccination as soon as possible. The
Government has already obtained sufficient number of vaccines for all of
them and it is up to them to come forward to receive the vaccination.
Reporter: (Question on the safety of vaccine)
Secretary for Food and Health: Of course, they would take the risk that in
case they have influenza, they will have higher risk of developing
complications or may be other eventuality. It is important for them to know
about that and this is the reason why we are stepping up publicity in terms
of various media announcements and so on. I hope that members of the public
would know that this is a measure to protect them and their family members.
Reporter: (Question on consent form)
Secretary for Food and Health: The consent form's purpose is mainly to
ensure that the patients who receive the vaccination have been informed of
the effects as well as the possible side-effects of the vaccine. It does not
mean that with signatures on the form, they cannot seek any type of action
in order to claim for compensation. It depends on the situation and what
types of side-effects they have. We will investigate all side-effects
especially for the significant ones, to see whether they are related to the
vaccination.
Reporter: (Question on H1N1 virus detected in pigs)
Secretary for Food and Health: As the experts have already mentioned, it is
not surprising to find H1N1 virus in pigs nowadays because it is easily
transmissible between pigs and between human and pigs. It is important to
discover whether there are large-scale of infection among pigs or whether
there are large scale transmission between human and pigs. So far, we have
not actually detected this through the regular surveillance that we have
carried out in the abattoirs. We have already informed the Mainland
authorities regarding the findings and they will investigate whether the two
farms that are exporting pigs to Hong Kong have any particular
irregularities within the pig farmers and the pigs. So far, they have not
discovered anything.
(Please also refer to the
Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Thursday, December 17, 2009
Issued at HKT 15:59
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(Photo)