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Director of Health Ronald Lam Man-kin (back row, first left) and Controller of the Centre for Health Protection, Edwin Tsui Lok-kin (back row, second left), accompanied by school representatives, observe a student receiving the injectable inactivated influenza vaccine at a school in North Point, Hong Kong, to inspect the arrangements for the Seasonal Influenza Vaccination School Outreach on Oct 28, 2025. (PHOTO\/HKSAR GOVERNMENT)<\/p>\n
Hong Kong\u2019s health authorities have cautioned against altering children’s vaccination schedules arbitrarily without reliable scientific data or medical research support, warning that doing so poses severe and irreversible health risks to children<\/a>.<\/p>\n Emphasizing that all public health policies and medical recommendations must be based on scientific evidence, the Department of Health\u2019s Centre for Health Protection (CHP)<\/a> reminded parents on Tuesday to ensure their children receive timely vaccinations under the Hong Kong Childhood Immunisation Programme (HKCIP).<\/p>\n Responding to media enquiries regarding the HKCIP<\/a>, the CHP said in a statement that delaying vaccinations reduces protection against relevant infectious diseases.<\/p>\n Hong Kong implemented the HKCIP in the 1960s, providing immunization services to children through the DH’s Maternal and Child Health Centres and School Immunisation Teams.<\/p>\n Currently, infants from birth to students of Primary Six should receive multiple vaccines and booster doses under the HKCIP to prevent tuberculosis, poliomyelitis, hepatitis B, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, pneumococcal infection, chickenpox, measles, mumps and rubella.<\/p>\n The HKCIP also provides the human papillomavirus vaccinations to eligible Primary schoolgirls to prevent cervical cancer. The special administrative region government also provides vaccination services to high-risk groups against seasonal influenza, pneumococcal infection and COVID-19 infection.<\/p>\n RELATED ARTICLES<\/p>\n Highlighting that Hong Kong\u2019s high vaccination coverage has successfully kept childhood infectious diseases at extremely low levels, CHP Controller Edwin Tsui Lok-kin said recommendations for the program are made from a public health perspective by the CHP\u2019s Scientific Committee on Vaccine Preventable Diseases.<\/p>\n \u201cWith the help of vaccines, smallpox was eradicated globally in 1980, and poliomyelitis was eliminated in Hong Kong in 2000. Measles and rubella were successfully eliminated in Hong Kong in 2016 and 2021, respectively,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Under the HKCIP, children receive the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine at 12 months, followed by the measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (MMRV) vaccine at 18 months.<\/p>\n 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, the CHP said.<\/p>\n The city\u2019s hepatitis B vaccination coverage among pre-school children stands at 99 percent, while the prevalence of the disease among individuals born after the introduction of the universal childhood hepatitis B immunization program in 1988 has dropped below 1 percent, it added.<\/p>\n The CHP call came the same day as the World Health Organization defended the science-based process used to determine childhood immunization schedules after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at reducing the number of recommended childhood vaccinations and splitting the MMR shots in the country.<\/p>\n The order advances a long-standing objective of US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr., who has questioned vaccine safety and promoted claims linking vaccines to autism even though scientific studies and public health authorities have found no evidence of a link.<\/p>\n WHO spokesperson Tarik Ja\u0161arevi\u0107 told a press briefing in Geneva that vaccination recommendations were based on more than 60 years of research by WHO, national authorities and independent expert groups. The timing of individual vaccines was determined through extensive scientific review of when people were most vulnerable to particular diseases and the development of the immune system, Ja\u0161arevi\u0107 added.<\/p>\n E-consent for school jabs<\/p>\n The CHP also announced on Tuesday that the 2026-27 Seasonal Influenza Vaccination School Outreach Programme will introduce a new electronic consent form feature. Beginning on Monday, parents can use the eHealth mobile application to submit an e-consent form for their children to receive seasonal influenza vaccinations (SIV) <\/a>under the program.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/767a8b19df0d449600a100e95a5da741.png\"\/)
The Centre for Health Protection’s signage is displayed on its building in Kowloon, Hong Kong, on Sept 15, 2025. (ADAM LAM\/CHINA DAILY)<\/p>\n