Girl, 5, confirmed with fatal bug as lawmakers slam vaccine plans

A five-year-old girl is in intensive care being treated for a killer pneumococcal bug and four more children may be infected, as lawmakers criticised authorities for their poor handling of vaccination arrangements.

The five-year-old girl, who was admitted to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Yau Ma Tei on November 4, is the only confirmed case. She is in intensive care, along with a 2-1/2-year-old boy admitted to the same hospital on Saturday. He has yet to be confirmed with the bug.

Three other suspected cases are awaiting results - a one-year-old boy and a two-year-old girl in Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam, and a one-year-old boy in Princess Margaret, Kwai Chung. All three are in stable condition.

The five-year-old girl tested positive for serotype 3, a strain of bacteria found to have become more infectious in recent years. Pneumococcal bacteria can trigger pneumonia, meningitis and blood poisoning.

The bug claimed two young lives last week. On Monday, the government announced plans to subsidise jabs of the latest pneumococcal vaccine, Prevnar 13 (PCV13), for children aged one to four who are deemed to be at high risk. Parents are indecisive over whether to vaccinate their children as the majority view of the government's team of experts is that the jabs are not essential. Communicable disease specialists are also split on the effectiveness of PCV13. The vaccine has been available in public clinics since December 2011.

But the number of children under five infected by serotype 3 rose from four last year to at least seven so far this year, figures released by the Department of Health yesterday showed. Three of the seven are known to have received PCV13, while five have not. The three-year-old boy who died on November 17 had been given only an earlier vaccine, PCV10.

The government offer to subsidise the PCV13 jab came under fire in the legislature yesterday for creating more confusion among the public. Secretary for Food and Health Dr Ko Wing-man said details of the subsidised vaccination would be announced in the next few days and it would be rolled out in about two weeks.