Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Queen Mary Hospital, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2022 Dec 31;18(1):1-5. doi: 10.1080/21645515.2021.1989916. Epub 2021 Oct 29.
Previous studies have shown that seasonal influenza strikes annually causing millions to fall sick and several hundred thousand to die globally. Hence, universal vaccination is a public health aim to control influenza. The Hong Kong Government started to introduce the School Outreach Vaccination (SOV) program in 2018 to increase vaccination rates in children. This study looked at the impact this had on hospital admissions and estimated vaccination rates in the total population, using a questionnaire-based tool. The SOV program significantly increased vaccination coverage rates with a 1% increase associated with a reduction of 4.3 influenza-related hospital admissions of school-aged children. The estimation of vaccine coverage rates among the under 5-year olds (48.5%), primary school children (69.3%) and over 65-year olds (45.7%), through the questionnaire-based tool, was within the 95% confidence interval of the coverage rates published by the Center for Health Protection of the Hong Kong Government, 47.4%, 68.1% and 45.8%, respectively. Extension of the SOV program should be considered in secondary schools to increase the coverage rates in adolescents. The questionnaire survey may inform government how to achieve universal vaccination for specific age groups.
先前的研究表明，季节性流感每年都会爆发，导致数百万人患病，数十万人在全球范围内死亡。因此，普遍接种疫苗是控制流感的公共卫生目标。香港政府于 2018 年开始推行学校外展疫苗接种（SOV）计划，以提高儿童的疫苗接种率。本研究使用基于问卷的工具，考察了这对住院人数的影响，并估计了总人口的疫苗接种率。SOV 计划显著提高了疫苗接种覆盖率，每增加 1%，与学龄儿童相关的流感住院人数就减少 4.3 例。通过基于问卷的工具，估计了 5 岁以下儿童（48.5%）、小学生（69.3%）和 65 岁以上老年人（45.7%）的疫苗接种率，与香港政府卫生防护中心公布的接种率（分别为 47.4%、68.1%和 45.8%）在 95%置信区间内。应考虑在中学扩大 SOV 计划，以提高青少年的疫苗接种率。问卷调查可能会告知政府如何为特定年龄段实现全民接种疫苗。
