Ingrid Yeung views child health centre

February 8, 2023
Immunisation information
Immunisation information:

Secretary for the Civil Service Ingrid Yeung (second left) chats to frontline staff to learn about their work with parents on  vaccination.

Secretary for the Civil Service Ingrid Yeung visited a call centre at the Department of Health's Tang Chi Ngong Maternal & Child Health Centre (MCHCs) today to learn about its staff phoning parents of young children to brief them on the importance of COVID-19 vaccination and arrange jab appointments for them.

 

The department has taken the initiative to approach parents of young children who have yet to receive vaccination, which is estimated to be about 70,000 people.

 

For now, the Sai Wan Ho, Tang Chi Ngong, Lam Tin, Ma On Shan and Tsing Yi MCHCs provide a vaccination service with prior bookings to children aged between six months and four years with the toddler formulation of the BioNTech vaccine.

 

The Sai Wan Ho, Tang Chi Ngong, Lam Tin, Ma On Shan and Yan Oi MCHCs provide a booked Sinovac vaccination service to children aged between six months and four years.

 

Parents can also have their young children receive the Sinovac vaccine at 28 MCHCs when they receive services there.

 

Mrs Yeung was briefed by Director of Health Dr Ronald Lam on the related services and chatted with the frontline staff who are responsible for calling parents to find out more about their work process.

 

She said: “Children have a weaker resistance to diseases, but the first dose vaccination rate for children aged below three is only about 25% and growing at a slow rate.

 

“Hong Kong has entered a new phase of the epidemic response and society is resuming full normalcy. But in the process of resumption, parents should protect their young children and arrange vaccination for them as early as possible.”

 

The civil service chief noted that MCHCs play an important role in protecting children's health and she hoped the department's initiative to contact parents could proactively answer their questions regarding COVID-19 vaccination, so that they would arrange for their children to get the jab as soon as possible.

 

Parents or guardians can make appointments for their young children to receive vaccination through the booking system on the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme's designated website, which also provides the latest information including details on vaccination venues, reservations and enquiry hotlines.

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