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Leopold Chen

Hong Kong school students and other at-risk residents can receive influenza vaccines one week earlier this year, after the government diversified its procurement efforts and streamlined administrative measures.
Authorities also said on Monday they aimed to boost the injection rate among people aged 65 or above and children aged six months to two years, adding that they would rely on reminders from doctors during medical encounters as a prioritised measure.
Dr Edwin Tsui Lok-kin, controller of the Centre for Health Protection, said the government’s seasonal influenza vaccination programmes for 2026-27 would begin on September 17, one week earlier than those in the previous year.
“Influenza is still active in August despite it having slightly subsided from the peak, and as students gather after school starts, transmission will be quicker,” Tsui said.
“We expect there will be some transmissions and outbreaks in schools after the new academic year starts, and therefore, we advise [students] to receive jabs as early as available.”
The programmes include the Vaccination Subsidy Scheme (VSS), which offers subsidised doses to vulnerable groups such as children, residents aged 50 or above, pregnant women and adults with chronic diseases.
The other covered schemes are the outreach vaccination programmes for schools and residential care homes.
Tsui said the programmes could start early as the government had stepped up the diversification of vaccine procurement efforts.

Similar to last year, the government has bought injectable inactivated vaccines from French manufacturer Sanofi and Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac, nasal spray live attenuated vaccines from Swedish-British firm AstraZeneca and injectable recombinant jabs from Sanofi, totalling 1.3 million doses.
This year, the number of Sanofi inactivated doses was reduced from 900,000 to 660,000, while the number from Sinovac was increased to 530,000, up from 300,000 in 2025.
Meanwhile, the number of procured nasal spray and recombinant vaccines had increased to about 60,000 each, up from 50,000 each last year.
Health authorities noted that while the Sanofi vaccines would only arrive in batches from mid-October, those from Sinovac had started arriving in late August.
Tsui said the early arrival of some vaccines enabled authorities to start their inoculation drives earlier.
All of this year’s procured vaccines are trivalent doses intended to protect against three flu strains. The World Health Organization earlier said the inclusion of the Yamagata variant of influenza B was no longer warranted.
Tsui said the introduction of e-consent forms for parents through the government’s eHealth system had also allowed schools to make administrative preparations before the academic year started.
Authorities also strengthened a pilot scheme that helped private doctors procure vaccines with government contracts by tripling the supply and expanding the eligibility for those taking part.

Dr Christina Maw Kit-chee, assistant director of the Health Bureau’s Strategic Purchasing Office, said the government had procured 300,000 jabs under the scheme, up from 100,000 last year.
The policy covers doctors who signed up for the VSS and at least one other government-subsidised primary healthcare programme.
Last year’s programme was only open to those who joined both the VSS and the Chronic Disease Co-Care Pilot Scheme.
Maw added that the government would review the pilot scheme and decide whether to normalise it after collecting information about demand levels from targeted groups as well as the ratio of government-procured vaccines to those doctors bought from private markets.
According to government statistics, 2.03 million vaccines were administered under the government schemes in 2025-26, down from nearly 2.09 million a year earlier.
Tsui noted that 27.4 per cent of children aged between six months and two years were covered by vaccines, higher than the moving average of the previous three years, 19.9 per cent, but the number would still need to rise as the proportion was relatively low.
Government data also showed that only 49.4 per cent of residents aged 65 or above had received vaccines, 1.3 percentage points lower than the average of the previous three years.
“From academic research, one of the most effective measures to promote such measures is [through] messages given by doctors during medical encounters in clinics,” Tsui said.
He added that the government would work closely with all doctors to remind patients to get their flu jabs.


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News

Hong Kong

Health & Environment

Centre for Health Protection says the government’s seasonal influenza vaccination programmes for 2026-27 will begin on September 17


Centre for Health Protection says the government’s seasonal influenza vaccination programmes for 2026-27 will begin on September 17.


Centre for Health Protection

Flu in Hong Kong

Hong Kong students, at-risk residents can get flu jabs 1 week early this year

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Centre for Health Protection says the government’s seasonal influenza vaccination programmes for 2026-27 will begin on September 17

Centre for Health Protection says the government’s seasonal influenza vaccination programmes for 2026-27 will begin on September 17