Three Hong Kong airport workers and one hospital employee are struck down by measles as union calls on health authorities to rethink strict vaccination rules
- Staff and Workers Union of Hong Kong Civil Airlines to meet with officials over harsh conditions for vaccination
- New cases all involve people who claimed to have been previously vaccinated, says Centre for Health Protection
Union leaders will meet with health officials on Wednesday to ask them to ease the criteria for measles vaccinations for airport staff after three more workers were found to be infected on Tuesday.
One radiographer at Princess Margaret Hospital was also found to be infected, the Hospital Authority announced late Tuesday night, taking the number of cases in the city to 40 for the year, almost three times as many as the whole of last year.
Li Wing-foo, vice-chairman of the Staff and Workers Union of Hong Kong Civil Airlines, said many workers felt a condition requiring an employee to be living with a pregnant woman or child under one was particularly harsh.
The health department tightened the requirement for vaccinations for airport staff on Monday after blood tests found almost 90 per cent of the staff had been previously immunised.
The new arrangement required staff to fit four conditions including: being born in or after 1967; not having previously received two doses of a measles vaccination; having not previously been infected with measles; and living with children under the age of one or a pregnant woman.
