Coronavirus Hong Kong: vaccines are safe for children, but committee will closely track any adverse reactions, leading expert says

Professor Ivan Hung says the expert committee on vaccine reactions will add more paediatricians and heart specialists, with jabs for children as young as 12 beginning on Monday

The remarks from the co-convenor of the committee add to calls from political leaders and health authorities for more people to get their shots

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A leading expert has emphasised that coronavirus vaccines are safe for youths as the city prepares to start immunising children as young as 12 on Monday. Photo: Winson Wong

Published: 4:02pm, 13 Jun 2021Updated: 12:11am, 14 Jun 2021

A leading health expert on Sunday stressed that it was safe for youths to receive the BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, but noted that a high-level committee would closely track any reports of adverse reactions once Hong Kong began immunising children as young as 12 on Monday.

The remarks from Professor Ivan Hung Fan-ngai, co-convenor of the Expert Committee on Clinical Events Assessment Following Covid-19 Immunisation, added to calls from Hong Kong’s finance and chief secretaries, as well as health authorities, for more people to take advantage of the city’s lagging vaccination drive.

Hung said the committee would increase the proportion of paediatricians and heart specialists monitoring reports of adverse effects, particularly after reports from overseas of some young people, particularly adolescent boys, experiencing myocarditis or pericarditis following their second dose of a vaccine. Both conditions involve inflammation of tissues in and around the heart, but are generally not life-threatening, and typically improve quickly.

“We will immediately explain to residents if there are really such cases, and clearly report the situation and how it is connected [to the vaccine],” Hung said in a television interview on Sunday. “We will of course monitor all reports of side effects, but we will focus particularly on heart inflammations, since there have already been reports out, even though it’s still quite rare.”

Echoing earlier comments from other health experts, Hung emphasised that it was safe for children to be vaccinated, pointing out that, compared with adults, side effects among children were roughly the same, or even slightly milder. Instances of heart inflammation, he added, were only seen in 16 out of every 1 million people, usually between 24 and 48 hours after vaccination. Of those who experienced the side effect, he said, 90 per cent had recovered within a week.