Parents should arrange flu jabs for children: expert
A specialist in paediatric medicine on Saturday said the death of four unvaccinated children from flu underscores the need for parents to arrange vaccination.  With the summer flu season under way, Patrick Ip from the University of Hong Kong told a radio programme that only 30 to 40 percent of schoolchildren had been inoculated.  The expert noted that the four children who died of influenza in the past four months were all unvaccinated.  However, he told reporters that this flu outbreak won't be as bad as before, as Hongkongers are more conscious of hygiene after the Covid pandemic.   "People's awareness of prevention is still relatively high. For example, many people still have the habit of wearing masks and washing their hands often. So, we expect that this influenza outbreak will not be as serious as before," he said.  With the summer holidays ending, Ip urged parents to arrange flu jabs for young children to guard against any uptick in cases.  On Japan releasing radioactice water from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the ocean, the professor said eating contaminated seafood for a long time could cause cancer.  But Ip urged people not to stock up on salt, saying consuming too much sodium can lead to high blood pressure.