The Elderly Health Service of the Department of Health today (November 6) started the free influenza vaccination programme for more than 60,000 elderly people living in more than 700 residential care homes.
This will help protect them from complications of influenza infection by immunisation before the peak influenza season.
Visiting Health Teams of the Elderly Health Service will visit more than 550 elderly homes to provide on-site vaccination to their residents and staff. In addition, free vaccines will be delivered to about 210 homes where vaccination will be conducted by in-house nurses.
The programme for elderly homes will last until December 1, followed by mop-up vaccination until early 2007.
Elderly people living in residential care homes are among one of the eight target groups of the Government Influenza Vaccination Programme for 2006-07.