The register of private doctors enrolled in the human swine influenza vaccination subsidy scheme has been listed on the Centre for Health Protection's website for public information.

The 917 participating private clinics will receive a Government subsidy of $129 per dose for providing the vaccination to chronic patients, pregnant women, children aged six months to less than six years, and elderly people aged 65 or above.

The Centre's Controller Dr Thomas Tsang said today the subsidised vaccinations will start December 28.

"More than 630 of the doctors have ordered the vaccines from us. Since the availability of the vaccines in the clinics may change from time to time, we advise people to contact the clinics in advance to confirm the vaccine availability and fee," he said, adding there is a monitoring mechanism to detect improper vaccination reimbursement claims.

"Our electronic platform, eHealth, used for reimbursement claims, has a programme installed to [watch for] any double entry of vaccine recipients' personal data. We will also check the consent forms returned from the clinics and make sure recipients have signed them. We may contact the recipients to reconfirm if necessary."

Safety assured

Dr Tsang said there is no evidence of a direct relation between the vaccine and adverse effects on health.

"Whenever cases arise overseas we will contact the concerned health authority for information. Of the cases studied in the US, UK, Germany and Japan, no evidence was found [proving the] cases were caused by the vaccine. If there are any such cases in Hong Kong our expert panel will study each of them thoroughly based on scientific evidence."

As it is possible for recovered human swine flu patients to contract the virus again, Dr Tsang urges those in high-risk groups to get inoculated, even if they have suffered from the disease.

A total of 7,963 doses of human swine flu vaccine were administered at Hospital Authority and Department of Health clinics during the 24-hour period ending at 1pm today, bringing the cumulative total of jabs administered to 15,467 since the start of the vaccination programme December 21.