Alert issued over flu shot problem

January 28, 2013

The Department of Health today urged parents of children who received influenza vaccinations from Kwun Tong doctor Chung Fan-sheng to contact it.
 
The doctor, enrolled in the Childhood Influenza Vaccination Subsidy Scheme, administered expired seasonal influenza vaccines to three children. His clinic is at 12B, G/F Tsui Ying House, Tsui Ping Estate.
 
The department received a complaint from a parent on January 25 that Dr Chung administered expired vaccines to his children.
 
The doctor said he mistakenly administered the expired influenza vaccine Vaxigrip 0.25ml for paediatric use (expiry date April 2012) to a two-year-old boy on January 22, and two other boys aged two and three on January 24.
 
The department has contacted the parents of the three affected patients. The children are in stable condition and will be re-vaccinated.
 
The department has set up a hotline 2125 2125 to answer public enquiries on the matter. Parents of children aged between six months and six years old who received the vaccine from the doctor between May 1 last year and January 25, should call the hotline. It will operate until 9pm tonight, and from 9am to 9pm on January 29 and 30. It will return to office hours from January 31.
 
The doctor has been delisted from the department's Vaccination Subsidy Schemes, and the case will be referred to the Medical Council.