Leong Iek Hou, who heads the Health Bureau’s (SSM) Communicable Disease Prevention and Control Division, suggested yesterday that people who have recently been infected with influenza should still get their flu jab to prevent them from contracting different influenza viruses.
Leong made the remarks in a phone-in programme hosted by public broadcaster TDM’s Chinese-language radio station, Ou Mun Tin Toi, which discussed the fight against respiratory diseases.
Leong said that the current influenza vaccine provided by the bureau is a quadrivalent vaccine, which means it can protect against four types of influenza viruses, and emphasised that viruses are constantly changing, and she suggested that people should receive the vaccine to prevent different influenza viruses even after recovering from the flu not long ago.
Leong also said that some people believed that they would develop influenza symptoms after being vaccinated. She stressed that many people received the vaccine during the peak season of influenza, and it was possible that they were vaccinated when they had already been infected with influenza viruses, rather than because they became ill after having the jab.
As for many elderly and chronically ill people who are worried that the vaccination would worsen their chronic diseases, Leong said that many elderly and chronically ill people suffer from pneumonia after catching influenza, so chronically ill people should be vaccinated against the flu early, and suggested that high-risk people should receive the pneumococcal vaccine as well as the influenza vaccine.
Leong said that the number of influenza-like patients visiting the two major hospitals in Macau has remained relatively stable, with a decrease in acute influenza cases compared to last year, adding that patients with influenza-induced fever accounted for 16.2 percent of the total number of patients.
In view of the upcoming Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday and the increase in the risk of infectious diseases due to more group activities, the bureau launched influenza prevention and control campaigns last week, which included setting up street stations in local communities to promote public awareness and answer health enquiries, which so far has reached out to nearly 15,000 residents, Leong noted.
Leong also said that the influenza vaccination situation in Macau is satisfactory, noting that as of January 19, 179,000 people in Macau had been vaccinated. Leong also said that Macau has been at the peak of influenza since the final week of last year and the situation was expected to continue until next month.
Education Department of the Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDJ) Deputy Director Wong Ka Ki said that his bureau has actively promoted the vaccination of students against influenza, and the vaccination rate of non-tertiary education students in Macau now stands at nearly 80 percent, which was enough to form a barrier against the flu.
Wong also said that his bureau has also set up an online platform to allow students to make appointments to be vaccinated, adding that they can apply for “reasonable absence” from school in order to get the jab.
Social Welfare Bureau (IAS) Deputy Director Hoi Va Pou said that her bureau has required social service agencies to formulate contingency plans for infectious diseases and conduct regular drills, and child care centres and day care centres for the elderly and persons with disabilities have implemented the “morning check-up” measures, under which notification must be made once any health abnormality among their staff has been detected.
Hoi noted that over 90 percent of the senior citizens in retirement homes and over 60 percent of children in creches have been vaccinated.
Hoi called on parents not to take their children suffering from infectious diseases to child care centres, but also called for understanding that most of the users of child care services are from families where both parents work, or are too busy to pick up their children.
Leong Iek Hou, who heads the Health Bureau’s (SSM) Communicable Disease Prevention and Control Division (right), Education Department of the Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDJ) Deputy Director Wong Ka Ki (centre) and Social Welfare Bureau (IAS) Deputy Director Hoi Va Pou pose during yesterday’s phone-in programme hosted by public broadcaster TDM’s Chinese-language radio station, Ou Mun Tin Toi. – Photo courtesy of TDM
