The Department of Health (DH) has implemented the Government Vaccination Programme (GVP), the Vaccination Subsidy Scheme (VSS) and the Residential Care Home Vaccination Programme (RVP) since 2009.
Among these, GVP provides free Seasonal Influenza Vaccination (SIV) to eligible groups which are at higher risk. The Hospital Authority (HA) and DH administer SIVs at its medical facilities to eligible persons.
Under VSS, the Government provides monetary subsidy per dose of SIV given by private doctors to eligible persons.
To further enhance coverage, particularly among schoolchildren, the Government introduced several new / enhanced initiatives in the 2018-19 season : (1) subsidy for SIV under VSS was increased from $190 to $210 per dose for all eligible groups; (2) VSS was expanded to cover Hong Kong residents aged 50-64 years; (3) School Outreach Vaccination Pilot Programme was launched for primary schools; (4) DH has actively assisted primary schools not participating in the Pilot Programme and kindergartens/child care centres (KG/CCCs) to arrange SIV outreach, such as through the newly launched Enhanced VSS Outreach Vaccination (eVSS) scheme.
As at 10 March 2019, total doses administered via various SIV programmes was about 1,175,000, a 46.9% increase compared with same period last year. SIV administered via GVP and VSS (including eVSS Outreach) has increased by 1.9% and 74.3% respectively.
The number of doses received by children aged 6 months to under 12 years increased by 107.4% (coverage 45.6%). Doses received by children aged 6 months to under 6 years increased by 33.5% (coverage 34.2%); and by children 6 years to under 12 years increased by 211.2% (coverage 55.3%).
The number of primary schools with SIV outreach has increased more than fivefold, while the number of KG/CCCs with SIV outreach has increased by 206.7%.
As of 12 March 2019, the relative risk of KG/CCCs with SIV outreach influenza-like illness (ILI) outbreak compared with those without was 0.63 (95% CI 0.49-0.80; p=0.0002). For primary schools with SIV outreach, the relative risk of ILI outbreak was 0.48 (95% CI 0.35-0.65; p0.0001). These showed that significantly lower proportions of schools with outreach SIV encountered II outbreak.
In view of high acceptance and effectiveness of SIV outreach programmes, the Government has decided to cover more primary schools / KG/CCCs starting from 2019-20.
Co-location with:
