Coronavirus: Hong Kong vaccine experts recommend Sinovac Covid-19 shots for children aged 3 and above

Advisory panel on Covid-19 vaccines says three- to 17-year-olds can receive Sinovac shot

Local health authorities suspect three Cathay Pacific pilots in ‘Delta Plus’ cluster were infected during their stay in a German hotel

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Children as young as three years will be able to receive the jab. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 1:22pm, 15 Nov 2021Updated: 2:19am, 16 Nov 2021

Health experts in Hong Kong have recommended that children aged three years and above be able to receive the Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine, in a move that will push the city closer to the goal of mass immunity.

The major development on Monday came as health officials made further progress in an investigation into a “Delta Plus” Covid-19 cluster involving three Cathay Pacific pilots, announcing that a German hotel, the Hyatt Regency Mainz near the city of Frankfurt, was suspected to be the source of the coronavirus scare.

Mainland Chinese drug maker Sinovac last month applied to city authorities to lower the minimum vaccination age for its coronavirus shot from 18 to three. Neither of the two drugs currently approved for use locally are available to children under the age of 12.

A late-night government statement said the advisory panel on Covid-19 vaccines recommended after a meeting on Monday that three- to 17-year-olds now could receive the Sinovac shot.

Officials will decide later who gets priority within that age group.

Hong Kong is within touching distance of achieving mass immunity, having inoculated more than 4.67 million people, or 69.5 per cent of its eligible population, with one dose of a vaccine.

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