Hong Kong – Government implements various measures to improve workflow of COVID-19 vaccination

     Having regard to earlier incidents in which some citizens received vaccination at Community Vaccination Centre (CVC) that was different from the CVC they had selected during booking, the Government has conducted a review of the relevant procedures at CVCs and implemented a host of improvement measures, including strengthening the checking steps and displaying clear signage inside and outside the CVCs, in order to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents.
      
     “The COVID-19 Vaccination Programme has a set of stringent procedures. The type of vaccine is mentioned throughout the vaccination process including online registration, as well as during the reception, information provision and consent-seeking stages in the CVCs. Thus, cases of citizens being vaccinated at a venue different from that of their own booking and went unnoticed by CVC staff should not have happened. Although these are isolated cases, we are highly concerned and need to handle them seriously,” a Government spokesman said today (April 13).
      
     “Government bureaux and departments and the relevant operators have as such conducted a comprehensive checking of the vaccination records of the CVCs. Together with the incidents discovered earlier, we notice that a total of 24 persons have received vaccination at a CVC different from the one they booked. To our understanding, some people changed their mind after making an appointment and just went to another CVC. There were also cases where people went to another CVC by mistake and received a vaccine not of their choice. On learning about the cases, the Government has taken expeditious follow-up action to ensure that the citizens concerned will receive a second dose vaccine of the same make.”
      
     To prevent the recurrence of similar incidents in future, the Government has implemented the following improvement measures: 
 
1. Enhance staff training and require all CVCs to raise their level of vigilance. CVC supervisors are to strengthen their monitoring of centre management and the work of staff;
 
2. to facilitate the public’s identification of the correct venue for vaccination, each of the CVCs and designated general outpatient clinics of the Hospital Authority have been assigned a unique code number. The code number for venues administering Sinovac vaccine will start with the prefix “S”, while those for BioNTech vaccination will start with the prefix “B”. For example, S01 is the code number of the Hong Kong Central Library CVC which administers Sinovac vaccine, and B02 is the code number of the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park Sports Centre CVC which administers BioNTech vaccine. The SMS messages for persons to be vaccinated will also start right-away with the code number of the vaccination venue chosen. In addition, the CVCs will also display their code number at prominent positions at the venue entrance. These arrangements will help reception staff and the public alike to tell if the latter has come to the correct vaccination venue; and
 
3. the public will receive an A5 folder and a leaflet on the vaccine to be administered at the venue. The name of the vaccine will be shown clearly on the folder.

     “We have apologised to the persons affected on the failure of staff members to have carefully checked their booking information and would take follow-up actions. We would also urge the public to check, prior to getting vaccinated, the location of the CVC and the vaccine they booked, so as to avoid going to the wrong venue,” the spokesman said.