Over 1,900 schools finish flu jab outreach
Bastillepost · 5 SOURCESabout 4 hours ago5 MIN
Summary
Director of Health Ronald Lam Man-kin (林文健) visited Po Leung Kuk Yip Ng Bun Bun Kindergarten in Tseung Kwan O on November 11 to inspect arrangements under the school outreach programme for seasonal influenza vaccination. He said more than 1,900 schools had completed outreach vaccinations since the programme began more than a month ago, and the remaining schools are expected to finish by mid-December. Health officials said overall influenza activity has started to decline but remains above the baseline level, and again urged schools and parents to arrange vaccination for children promptly.
Key Points
- The Department of Health said over 2,200 schools, or 99% of all schools, will hold school-based influenza outreach sessions this academic year
- The first school outreach vaccination session was held on September 18, the day after the programme started, and schools generally finished earlier than last season
- This year, the eHealth mobile app added an electronic consent form, reducing repeated data entry by parents and easing verification work for schools and outreach teams.
- Schools can continue using a hybrid model, offering both injected inactivated influenza vaccine and nasal spray live attenuated influenza vaccine at the same outreach event
- This flu season has recorded 29 severe paediatric influenza cases, including 3 critical cases and 2 deaths; 22 children have recovered and been discharged, while 2 remain stable.
Why It Matters
The figures show the school outreach programme is reaching most campuses, but officials are still concerned because influenza circulation remains above normal seasonal baseline levels. Health authorities also said analysis found unvaccinated children were about five times more likely than vaccinated children to develop severe complications or die after influenza infection, underscoring the public health value of early uptake.