Hong Kong health authorities have urgently appealed to the public to receive flu shots following the death of a third child from the virus this year, warning that more outbreaks of respiratory diseases are coming.
The Center for Health Protection said on Tuesday that cases of flu and Covid-19, as well as other respiratory infections, remained at a high level. The warning followed the death on Monday of an unvaccinated four-year-old girl infected with influenza A.
“For those who haven’t been vaccinated yet, they should receive the vaccination, as the vaccine is safe and effective,” said Dr. Wong Hoi-kei, senior medical and health officer of the center’s communicable disease branch.
He said that still around 20 percent of residents of homes for the elderly and nearly half of the children in the city had not been vaccinated against flu.
Dr Larry Lee Lap-yip, a chief manager at the Hospital Authority, also noted that there had been growing pressure on pediatric wards, with occupancy rates hovering around 109 to 110 percent in recent days.
Visits to accident and emergency departments, as well as occupancy rates in medical wards, were also at a high level.
The girl initially suffered from a fever and sore throat last Thursday and was admitted to a private hospital the next day.
Low herd immunity in Hong Kong may prolong the flu season, experts warn
She was transferred to the intensive care unit of Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital in Chai Wan in a critical condition on Saturday suffering from cramps with encephalopathy, a term referring to altered brain functions. Her condition deteriorated further and she died on Monday.
In the past two weeks, two other girls, aged eight and six, died after being infected with the flu.
Health experts earlier warned that a low vaccination rate might have prolonged the flu season as poor herd immunity had allowed a different strain of the virus to dominate.
The shift was from influenza A subtype H3 seen in the January to March period to subtype H1 recorded in the most recent cases.
Unvaccinated 8-year-old Hongkonger dies after contracting flu
