Offer Hong Kong schoolchildren nasal spray vaccine to fight flu and not just traditional jabs, hospital pharmacists say

Group cites survey showing parents prefer such an option, but health officials counter there is no evidence it is more effective than traditional jabs

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Hong Kong officials hope more children in the city get vaccinated against the flu. Photo: Oliver Tsang

Published: 9:15pm, 17 Oct 2018Updated: 10:53pm, 17 Oct 2018

As the school-based flu vaccination programme starts in Hong Kong on Monday, hospital pharmacists have urged officials to offer intranasal spray as an option to ease parents’ concerns about traditional injections.

Medical teams will visit 184 primary schools across the city to administer free flu jabs under a new government scheme meant to ensure children are vaccinated against the viral infection. Earlier this year, 398 people died of the flu, two of them children.

Health authorities are hoping that the on-site strategy will boost the city’s vaccination coverage rate – now at about 18 per cent – to ensure enough children are protected. This follows a tough winter earlier this year when multiple outbreaks hit local kindergartens and primary schools, prompting the government to close schools earlier than usual for the Lunar New Year holiday.

The Society of Hospital Pharmacists on Wednesday said it conducted a survey in August and September of 139 parents whose children were aged between 3 and 12. It found that while 90 per cent worried their children would catch the flu, 40 per cent did not plan to have their children vaccinated.

The group’s president, William Chui Chun-ming, said 60 per cent were worried about side effects from the injections and half thought that the vaccine’s efficacy was less than 50 per cent.

About 55 per cent of the parents said they preferred their children to receive the nasal flu vaccine, and 80 per cent wanted it administered at school.