A Chinese expert called for the Chinese people to realize the importance of influenza prevention, as fewer than one percent of Chinese people were vaccinated against influenza currently.

Zhong Nanshan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, made the remarks recently, urging the public to know about the harm of influenza and the best way to prevent it is to inject vaccine.

Zhong, China's leading SARS expert, is also director of the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Diseases in southern China's Guangdong province where SARS first surfaced in November 2002.

A recent survey of 1,100 Chinese residents in Chinese cities show more than half of them think influenza is almost equal to a cold, and 80 percent believe there is no necessity to make any prevention.

During a department store promotion in Beijing, customers were allowed to choose various gifts including a card for influenza vaccine worth about 100 yuan (US$12) and other small commodities less than 20 yuan (US$2.4) each. Most of the customers preferred "useful" small commodities to the card for influenza vaccine.

Experts say the rate of vaccination against influenza in the United States is about 27 percent and in European countries around 7.8 percent to 17.7 percent. The lower rate in China is mainly because Chinese people believe treatment is more important than prevention.

"The vaccination rate is closely linked to the public participation and medical staff's recommendation," insiders said.     

The spread of influenza mainly breaks out from November to next March, which poses great threat to peoples' health, Zhong said, stressing vaccination against influenza is not only conducive to people's health but also beneficial to save medical resources. 

(Xinhua News Agency December 24, 2004)