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| HK left with swine-flu vaccine as city shuns jabs |
| 27-JAN-2010 Intellasia | DPA |
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| 27 Jan, 2010 - 7:00:00 AM |
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Hong Kong health officials admitted Monday they have been left with a large stockpile of unused swine-flu vaccine as patients shun free jabs because of safety concerns. Thomas Tsang, controller of the government's Centre for Health Protection, said the public response to the controversial vaccination programme had been "underwhelming."
The government was not contacting the manufacturer to ask how it could deal with the leftover supplies after it ordered enough for 3 million doses in the city of 7 million.
Hong Kong ordered the Sanofi Pasteur vaccine and offered it free to people considered to be in high risk categories such as health care workers, children and the elderly.
However, the response was lukewarm from the outset and the flu inoculations became even less popular after two reported cases of seizures from the shots.
Concerns were heightened at the weekend when it was reported two women gave birth to stillborn children in the space of a week after being inoculated.
Hong Kong's Health Secretary York Chow urged people in vulnerable groups to continue having the vaccines, saying there was no proven link between the cases and the vaccine.
Hong Kong has had a total of more than 33,000 recorded swine-flu cases since the global outbreak began last year, most of them mild cases. Fifty-five people have died.
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305601,hong-kong-left-with-swine-flu-vaccine-as-city-shuns-jabs.html
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