Wary Hong Kong parents shun free swine-flu jabs for children

Dec 21, 2009, 8:16 GMT

Hong Kong - Parents in Hong Kong Monday snubbed a government offer of swine-flu vaccinations for their children at the start of a city-wide programme aimed at giving jabs to high-risk groups.

Only 400 parents booked the free vaccinations for their children Monday despite a government capacity of 6,000 jabs a day in clinics across the city of 7 million.

Thomas Tsang, controller of the Hong Kong Center for Health Protection, appealed to more parents to get their children protected against the H1N1 virus.

'The number is below what we can handle,' he said. 'I believe some parents would like a little bit more time to see how things go. We are all geared up to provide vaccinations.'

Key government figures including Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang last week had the swine-flu jabs in front of press photographers to try to boost interest in the programme.

The move came days after 800,000 children's doses of the H1N1 vaccine, made by the French company Sanofi Pasteur, were recalled in the United States over concerns about its effectiveness.

However, Hong Kong, which has ordered around 2 million doses of the Sanofi Pasteur vaccine, has assured the public the vaccine is both safe and effective.

Up to 2 million people considered to be in high-risk categories - including health care workers, children and the elderly - are being offered free jabs in the government vaccination programme.

Hong Kong has recorded 45 fatalities and almost 200 severe cases of swine flu since the first case was detected in the territory in May.