The Government will provide the second dose of measles vaccine to children aged 18 months from January 2.

The Department of Health today announced this was new arrangement for measles vaccination under its Hong Kong Childhood Immunisation Programme.

Under the current practice, children are given the first dose of a combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine when they are a year old at Maternal & Child Health Centres (MCHCs), followed by a combined measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (MMRV) vaccine at school at Primary One.

Starting January 2, children born on or after July 1, 2018 with scheduled appointments at 18 months old for receiving the diphtheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis and inactivated poliovirus vaccine (booster dose) at the health centres will receive the MMRV vaccine on the same day instead of receiving it at Primary One.

Children born between January 1, 2013 and June 30, 2018 will receive the MMRV vaccine at Primary One via the School Immunisation Teams through outreach visits to schools as in previous years.

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