The Influenza Vaccination Programme will start in early November covering 300,000 people, the Centre for Health Protection says.

The centre's Dr Thomas Tsang today said this year's programme will be extended to cover all pregnant women receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance, including those who are in their first trimester.

He said the inactivated influenza vaccine is considered safe for use in pregnancy by the World Health Organisation and there is no evidence that it induces developmental abnormalities in a fetus even if given during the first trimester of pregnancy.

8 target groups

Free influenza vaccinations will be offered to:

* elderly home residents;

* long-stay residents of homes for the disabled;

* people 65 or above with chronic illness or who are social security recipients;

* social security recipients under 65 with chronic illness and some Hospital Authority in-patients with chronic illness;

* Government and Hospital Authority healthcare workers, and those in elderly or disabled homes;

* poultry workers;

* children aged six to 23 months from social security families; and,

* all pregnant women receiving social security.

The programme will start last until the end of the year. Some mop-up vaccinations are also expected early next year.

"This year, we raised our planned target number of influenza vaccines given under the programme, from 250,000 for the previous flu season to 300,000 for the next flu season," Dr Tsang said.

He urged residents not covered in the programme to consult their private doctors early so they can place vaccine orders soon.

Drug stockpiling

Meanwhile, a new guideline on enterprises stockpiling anti-viral drugs during a flu epidemic has been uploaded to the centre's website.

According to it, an enterprise should ask its company doctor to formulate its contingency plan and medicine stockpiling proposal. The doctor should assess the enterprise's situation, estimate the number of anti-viral drugs needed to be stockpiled, and deal with the storage and prescription of the drugs.

Noting the Government is not encouraging enterprises to stockpile drugs, Dr Tsang said the guideline just aims to offer advice to firms that consider drug stockpiling necessary.

Another guideline for private doctors on how to offer drug stockpiling advice to enterprises will be ready in two weeks.

On bird flu, Dr Tsang said the centre attaches great importance to a recent case involving a family of seven people in Indonesia and is maintaining a close contact with the World Health Organisation and Indonesian health authorities.

Other infectious diseases

On other infectious diseases, the centre's Dr Chung Pui-hong said there has been 17 measles cases notified to the centre so far this year.

"The increase is consistent with the historical pattern of measles where the peak season usually occurs in May and June. The key to preventing measles is to maintain up-to-date vaccination against the disease," he said.

As for hand-foot-and-mouth disease, the centre has observed a moderate rise in the number of outbreaks recently.

The rise in May is consistent with seasonal trends observed in the previous year, Dr Chung said, adding three confirmed cases of Enterovirus-71 have been recorded so far this year.

As a preventive measure, the centre sent letters to the management of childcare centres and kindergartens in March to remind them to be on the alert of the disease.