Authorities urges flu jabs for children and elderly

A new round of the flu vaccination programme will commence on September 17.

The Centre for Health Protection appeals to the public not to hesitate

or hold back due to isolated cases, emphasizing that vaccines

are proven to significantly reduce the risk of severe illness and death.

With school starting on Tuesday, the Centre for Health Protection anticipates

a further uptick in seasonal influenza outbreak. For this round,

a total of 1.6 million vaccine doses have been procured so far,

covering four types of injectable and nasal spray vaccines that

align with the World Health Organization's recommendation.

Among them, 300,000 have been allocated to eligible private doctors.

Meanwhile, the current summer flu season has been ongoing for more than two months,

with influenza A H1 and H3 virus predominating.

Tsui further adds during the current influenza season, 415 adult severe cases were reported,

in which 263 were fatal. 82 per cent of the cases were elders aged 65 or above

and over 50 per cent of them were not known to have the seasonal infection vaccination.

Meanwhile, the rate of severe complications among

unvaccinated children was about 5 times that of the vaccinated one.

The influenza virus is constantly changing.

This is the reason why we should have the annual influenza vaccination.

For the influenza season expected in early 2027, it remains unclear which strain will predominate,

and the centre for health protection will continue to monitor closely.