The Department of Health’s Centre for Health Protection will set up a vaccination station at the airport from tomorrow to provide airport staff with free measles vaccinations.

The centre made the announcement today after three backend support staff who work on aircraft repair and maintenance, all at the same company, contracted measles. They did not know whether they had been vaccinated against the disease.

The centre added that it has implemented comprehensive communicable disease control measures. This includes medical surveillance of close contacts and providing “mop-up” vaccinations for contacts who lack immunity to measles. 

The workplace associated with the cases has about 2,500 employees, approximately 900 of whom are non-local residents. Data collected during the centre’s epidemiological investigations found that around 30% of the employees were unsure whether they are immune to measles.

As of 1 pm today, no new cases of measles – including secondary transmission among close contacts of the three people infected – had been recorded, while the centre had provided vaccinations to more than 370 of the company’s employees.

The centre highlighted that measles outbreaks have been on the rise worldwide. Given that airport staff frequently come into contact with large numbers of travellers and that a higher proportion of those in the airport workforce are not born locally and may not have been vaccinated against measles in childhood, the risk of measles transmission is relatively high.

To prevent a measles outbreak among airport staff, the centre will set up a vaccination booth at the airport from tomorrow to provide local airport staff with free measles vaccinations.

The service targets Hong Kong airport staff who have not received two doses of the measles vaccine and have never had measles. If an airport employee has undergone a blood test confirming a positive reaction to measles antibodies (IgG), vaccination is not required.

Centre for Health Protection Controller Dr Edwin Tsui urged all airport staff, especially those not born locally, to review their vaccination records as soon as possible.