When Hong Kong vaccinated 80 per cent of target population in 10 days – the ‘great success’ of its 1963 drive to give children a polio vaccine dose
- Hong Kong’s drive to eliminate polio in the early 1960s involved free vaccine doses for children aged five and under
- After 10 days more than 80 per cent of the target group had had their first dose; the second dose followed two months later, and child polio cases fell to zero
“Most children over five years old in Hongkong have already had” the disease, “without being affected and do not need the oral vaccine which the Government is making available free in January to every child five years and under”, the South China Morning Post reported on August 18, 1962. The disease was poliomyelitis.
“The vaccine will be flown from Britain and placed in special freezing chambers. Distribution centres will be made known to the public in December,” the article continued, adding that “the campaign was being carried out in the winter months because experience elsewhere showed vaccination campaigns were best carried out when natural polio infection was least active”.
On December 24, the Post reported that “yellow banners bearing the words ‘Anti-polio Immunisation Campaign’ will be flown at temporary centres for 10 days beginning on January 2 to guide parents bringing their children”.
“The vaccine to be used is given by mouth and only a few drops of liquid need be swallowed on two occasions, with an interval of eight weeks between doses … For those aged between two and five, a cube of sugar containing the vaccine will be given to be swallowed on the spot.”
