Health authorities have singled out more than 160 schools for declining to arrange on-campus influenza vaccinations, calling on parents to bring their children to get jabbed as soon as possible.

The list of schools, which has been uploaded online, includes a number of international and elite institutions.

Albert Au, head of the Centre for Health Protection's communicable disease branch, on Friday said seven institutional or school outbreaks were reported last week, up from two to four cases a week in December.

He said authorities have reminded schools to take extra precautionary measures and that most of them have arranged on-campus vaccinations for pupils.

"A tiny fraction of schools have still refused to arrange on-campus vaccinations through the outreach programme for pupils. There are 168 of them. Another 13 schools which had previously agreed to arrange vaccinations, have not yet confirmed a date for the jabs," Au told an RTHK programme.

"I would like to urge the parents of pupils studying at these schools, to bring their children to get vaccinated as soon as possible, if they haven't already done so."

Au added the city had entered the flu season with influenza activity expected to increase further before peaking in about a month's time.

Patrick Ip, professor in paediatrics and adolescent medicine at the University of Hong Kong, urged schools to help all pupils get vaccinated against the flu.

"[For] all those schools that have not joined the school vaccination programme, I would encourage them to seriously think about what would be a better arrangement, for example, through better communication with the parents, particularly those parents of the younger kids," Ip told RTHK.

He also said the vaccination rate among young kids, particularly those in pre-school and kindergarten, was rather unsatisfactory.
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Last updated: 2025-01-10 HKT 18:14