Vaccination programs to start on November 1
The government-led vaccination [ˌvæksəˈneɪʃən] programs will start on November 1.
According to the Centre for Health Protection, the seasonal influenza [ˌɪnflu:ˈenzə] vaccine, whose composition [ˌkɔmpəˈziʃən] includes human [ˈhju:mən] swine flu vaccine, has passed the safety standards.
The program has been divided into two parts: one is a free government program and the other is a subsidy [ˈsʌbsidi]nclick="document.getElementById.src='http://res.iciba.com/resource/amp3/0/0/1d/a8/1da828e9a0eab4563a40aca14282df08.mp3'" src="http://www.spiiker.com/js/editer/play.gif"> scheme.
The first will enable eligible [ˈelidʒəbl] groups to receive free seasonal influenza vaccination at Hospital Authority or Department of Health clinics. The coverage includes the elderly people who live in residential care homes, people aged 65 or above with chronic [ˈkrɔnik] illness, those who are suffering from chronic illness and receiving Comprehensive Social Security Allowance , health care workers, children aged between 6 months and 6 years from families receiving CSSA, pregnant [ˈpreɡnənt] women receiving CSSA and people working at pig farms and poultry [ˈpəultri] factories.
The second part is a subsidy scheme for the HK residents aged 65 or above and children aged between 6 months and 6 years who wish to take the vaccination at private clinics. Under this plan, the government will subsidize [ˈsʌbsidaiz] the eligible elderly HK$130 for seasonal influenza vaccine and HK$190 for pneumococcal vaccine. Subsidy for eligible children for seasonal influenza vaccine is HK$80.
The Center will later post [pəust] in its website all relevant [ˈreləvənt] information like where the private clinics that have joined this plan are located. Last year around 1,400 private clinics joined the subsidy scheme.
Dr Thomas Tsang, controller at the Centre for Health Protection, sought to assure people that the human swine influenza vaccine is safe.
Early this year there were reports of severe side-effects suffered by some citizens who had suddenly found that their legs had become weaker. That was the chief reason why many people got scared and were unwilling to be vaccinated. Tsang said a team of experts has been following up such cases and studying on the safety aspects of the vaccine since then. In the past 10 months, the side-effect of HSI vaccines has been found to be mild. The study also showed that HSI vaccines are not causally related to deaths, spontaneous [spɔnˈteiniəs] abortion, or stillbirth [ˈstɪlˌbɜ:θ].
"According to studies conducted so far, we can say confidently that this vaccine is safe," said Tsang.
According to him, over 350 million doses worldwide have been administered and the latest World Health Organization update also confirmed its safety.
