Moved here 8 months ago - do kids need BCG vaccine?

M

Mimi2

Registered User
Hello - we moved here from England 8 months ago with our 4 year old girl ( just turned 5). She is about to start school and I have had to fill out various health forms/qustion sheets. One form states that we must get the BCG vaccine before starting at the school. When we moved here our local nurse said BCG was not needed for HK.

Does everyone vaccinate against BCG when they move here , no matter how old the child is?

Thanks.
 
not sure what others do with slightly older kids, but know that most babies get it at hospital before they are discharged adter birth. TB is very common here, so probably best to speak to a dr about it.

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Children in Hong Kong are given the BCG at the hospital. This has led to a dramatic reduction of TB amongst younger children, with less than 16 overall cases reported last year under the age of 14. The rate for children under 5 is 2.31 per 100,000 population. This compares to a rate of 3.6 per 100,000 in the United Kingdom for under 5.

Overall though, the rate for Hong Kong is about 69 per 100,000, which compares to an overall rate in the UK of 14.4 per 100,000 (note, for native born in the UK the rate is 4.1/100k and non-UK born the rate is 83.6/100k).

BCG vaccine offers about 15 years of protection.

Centre for Health Protection - Tuberculosis notifications (all forms) and rate by age group and sex, 2012 (Provisional)
http://www.hpa.org.uk/webc/HPAwebFile/HPAweb_C/1317134913404

Here is the US guidance on the BCG vaccine.

CDC | TB | Fact Sheets - BCG Vaccine

Here is another thread on this subject from a few years ago.

http://www.geobaby.com/forum/thread121043.html

Are you here for the long haul? Will you be traveling significantly throughout Asia where TB is even more common?
 
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