More people in Hong Kong getting flu jabs ahead of winter peak season as public awareness grows

In first two weeks of government’s vaccination programme, more than 136,000 flu shots administered

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People are advised to get jabs ahead of the winter flu peak season. Photo: Alamy

Published: 3:54pm, 27 Oct 2018Updated: 10:42pm, 27 Oct 2018

More people in Hong Kong are getting vaccinated against influenza this year ahead of the winter flu season because of greater public awareness, according to private doctors and health authorities.

In the first two weeks of the government’s vaccination programme, more than 136,000 people got flu shots, up nearly 60 per cent on the same period last year, the Department of Health said, while advising people to get jabs ahead of the winter flu peak season which usually began in January.

Private doctors also observed the same trend, attributing it to greater public awareness of the importance of vaccines against the viral infection. Two said they were told by other doctors that they could not get enough supplies of the vaccine to meet demand.

All 1,600 kindergartens, primary schools and special needs schools closed early for the Lunar New Year holiday to stop transmissions of flu in February. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

As of Wednesday, 107,000 doses were given via the HK$210 Vaccination Subsidy Scheme, which began on October 10, an increase of 57.2 per cent on the 2017/18 season, a department spokesman said on Friday. Another 27,300 doses – a 51.4 per cent rise – were administered via the free Government Vaccination Programme, which started on Wednesday.