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Doctors are urging authorities to establish an online booking platform that allows parents to easily make appointments for their children to receive influenza vaccinations.
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This initiative aims to boost vaccination rates amid the ongoing winter influenza season, particularly after the Department of Health released a list of 168 schools that opted out of its on-site vaccination program.
Currently, influenza vaccinations are voluntary. However, some parents, particularly from middle-class families, prefer taking their children to private clinics for the shots.
This poses a challenge for schools, as they are unable to track the exact number of students who have been vaccinated if parents do not report back after the appointments.
Associate professor Kwok Kin-on from the Chinese University School of Public Health and Primary Care said that some parents hesitate to vaccinate their children due to concerns about potential side effects.
“They may believe that their children are safe from side effects if they don’t get vaccinated, or they might think their children won’t contract the virus,” he said.
He also said that some parents are still undecided about whether to proceed with the vaccinations.
Kwok proposed that health authorities create an online platform that would allow parents to make reservations at both public and private clinics, while also providing access to schools for tracking purposes.
Medical and health service sector lawmaker David Lam Tzit-yuen emphasized the need for a city-wide platform to monitor real-time vaccination records.
He suggested that the Department of Health should manage vaccine procurement and restrict private doctors and healthcare organizations to purchasing vaccines from the department.
Also, he advocated for the registration of all vaccination records in the government’s Electronic Health Record Sharing System to provide a clearer picture of the vaccination landscape.
(Eunice Lam)
