David Hui Shu-cheong, a professor of respiratory medicine at Chinese University and a member of the government’s Scientific Committee on Vaccine Preventable Diseases, said on Saturday the move could be needed to combat the changing pattern of influenza seasons after the Covid-19 pandemic. “Before the pandemic, we would have a huge outbreak from January to March and a smaller outbreak from July to September,” he told a radio show. “As many people are still wearing masks, the possibility of having a major outbreak is not high.
The outbreaks may come in a continuous and small-scale manner.” Hui said Singapore authorities acquired vaccines designed for the northern hemisphere in the fourth quarter and southern hemisphere shots in February, as the city state’s flu seasons ran throughout the year. “If Hong Kong’s flu outbreak pattern consistently follows the year-round pattern in Singapore, we cannot rule out the possibility that we may need to learn from Singapore’s model and procure vaccines designed for both hemispheres,” he said.
Hong Kong currently only uses those for the northern hemisphere. “Both northern and southern hemisphere vaccines would be useful to better match the circulating strains at different times, especially for high-risk groups,” Hui said. But authorities would need to observe an extra season to assess the need to introduce the southern hemisphere vaccine before he brought the suggestion to the committee.
The Centre for Health Protecti.
