Editorial | Hong Kong child deaths stress need to have flu jabs
- Third girl dies from virus as H1 strain sweeps city, helped by Hong Kong’s low herd immunity and poor vaccination rate
The declaration that Covid-19 was no longer a public health crisis around this time last year may have given many people suffering from coronavirus fatigue the impression individual health was no longer under threat. This false sense of security was only further reinforced when the cold season, which is traditionally associated with flu infections, turned out warmer.
However, the truth is that it was not too long ago when Hong Kong was still grappling with the double whammy of Covid and seasonal flu outbreaks, both of which can be life-threatening.
The deaths of three girls last month serve as a sad reminder of this. On Monday an unvaccinated four-year-old, who initially suffered from a fever and sore throat after being infected with influenza A, died at Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital in Chai Wan.
Her death followed those of a vaccinated and previously healthy six-year-old who contracted the H1 strain of the virus and an unvaccinated eight-year-old, who also had the H1 strain.
The Centre for Health Protection has warned that the flu season will last longer this year because of the city’s low vaccination rate and has urged the public to get inoculated. It said the dominant flu virus strain had shifted from influenza A subtype H3, found in infections from January to March, to subtype H1 recorded in the most recent cases.
