The Hospital Authority (HA) announced Tuesday (Aug. 10) that it decided to refine the service model of its Vaccine Allergy Safety Clinic to expedite the assessment service for people with history of allergies.
The clinic was set up at Grantham Hospital of the authority's Hong Kong West Cluster earlier to provide an assessment service and vaccination advice for referral cases with history of allergies.
However, the clinic has received more than 8,000 letters since March, and there is still a backlog of over 4,000 cases on the waiting list, with some patients being notified that they will have to wait until 2029 for a consultation. Among the 4,000 cases, about 1,200 are patients with allergic reactions after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine and about 2,800 with history of allergies but not yet vaccinated.
In light of the rapid and continuous surge in referral cases recently that resulted in a prolonged waiting time for consultation, the authority decided to refine the clinic's service model by arranging for other hospital clusters to assist and speed up the assessment service so that people suitable for jabs can consider receiving vaccination as soon as possible.
To expedite the assessment service, various hospital clusters under the authority will deploy specialists to assist in the assessment of the 2,800 people who have not yet been vaccinated, with reference to the clinical assessment guidelines prepared by the clinic.
Such people will soon be informed of an updated appointment date for an assessment before the end of September.
The clinic will then focus on the 1,200 people who had allergic reactions after vaccination.
The authority noted that in general, these people require further clinical assessment to ensure their safety.
They are not suitable, nor have the urgency, to receive the same kind of vaccine in the near future, the authority added.
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