Health | More locations for flu vaccinations

The Health Bureau (SSM) has increased the mumber of flu vaccination centers to include Hospital Conde de Sao Januário (CHCSJ), Kiang Wu Hospital and University Hospital of the Macau University of Science and Technology, and others. All Macau residents aged 6 months and above can be vaccinated for free without a previous booking, the SSM said in a statement.

The measures aim to facilitate residents’ ease of access to the flu vaccination after last month’s increase from an average of 400 people per day to about 4,000 people per day during the peak period. This situation, according to the health services, caused “a large impact on the functioning of the vaccination points,” leading to the establishment of a booking system for the health care centers.
According to the latest data, the number of people seeking vaccination has now fallen to around 700 people per day. But the SSM notes that the current system aims to be able to cope with any possible scenario.

In order to respond to vaccination needs, the Bureau ordered an additional 45,000 seasonal flu vaccines, with the number of vaccines against influenza rising to a total of 165,000, with the number of people being vaccinated also rising to 127,000.
According to data collected between February 11 and 13, the proportion of adult flu patients at CHCSJ was 6.6 percent, while the number of children has increased to 34.8 percent.
The SSM will also be on alert for a possible second wave of flu which will likely occur after the Chinese New Year holidays. The SSM is also advising residents to take preventative measures, namely by vaccination, saying that residents should take the vaccine as early as possible since the period between the vaccination and its effectiveness is about two to three weeks.

This week, Macau has registered 10 cases of collective flu contamination, all occurring in schools and involving over 30 students.

Official data shows that 22 cases of type B influenza were recorded, as well as four cases of type A flu and one case caused by infection through human metapneumovirus, a virus closely related to the avian flu.

Since the beginning of 2018, a total of 56 cases of collective flu infection have been registered.  RM