The Department of Health (DH)’s Centre for Health Protection (CHP) today reminded parents to ensure their children receive timely vaccinations under the Hong Kong Childhood Immunisation Programme (HKCIP).
Hong Kong implemented the HKCIP in the 1960s, providing immunisation services to children through the DH’s Maternal & Child Health Centres and School Immunisation Teams.
CHP Controller Dr Edwin Tsui highlighted that Hong Kong’s high vaccination coverage has successfully kept childhood infectious diseases at extremely low levels. Recommendations for the programme are made from a public health perspective by the CHP’s Scientific Committee on Vaccine Preventable Diseases.
Dr Tsui noted significant milestones achieved through immunisation, including the global eradication of smallpox in 1980 and the elimination of poliomyelitis in Hong Kong in 2000. He added that measles and rubella were also successfully eliminated in Hong Kong in 2016 and 2021 respectively.
Under the HKCIP, children receive the combined Measles, Mumps & Rubella (MMR) vaccine at 12 months, followed by the Measles, Mumps, Rubella & Varicella (MMRV) vaccine at 18 months. Due to consistently high vaccine uptake, imported measles cases over the past two years have not caused significant local transmission, allowing Hong Kong to maintain its measles-eliminated status.
Furthermore, Hong Kong’s hepatitis B vaccination coverage among pre-school children stands at 99%. Consequently, the prevalence of the disease among individuals born after the introduction of the universal childhood hepatitis B immunisation programme in 1988 has dropped below 1%.
The CHP emphasised that all public health policies and medical recommendations are strictly evidence-based. Parents are reminded that vaccination schedules should not be altered arbitrarily without reliable scientific data or medical research support, as doing so poses severe and irreversible health risks to children.