Coronavirus: more vaccination venues to be opened for young children, Hong Kong civil service chief says, as city logs 4,376 cases
- About 2,200 children have received Sinovac shots in past week since vaccination extended to those as young as six months
- Health experts urge government to purchase BioNTech formula for toddlers to encourage vaccination of youngest residents.
A week after the age threshold for the China-made Sinovac vaccine was lowered from three years to six months, Secretary for the Civil Service Ingrid Yeung Ho Poi-yan on Thursday said authorities were still negotiating for the German-produced BioNTech vaccine to be made available to children equally as young.
Yeung urged parents to have their children inoculated with Sinovac, but stopped short of setting a target for the demographic.
“I know parents want to have choices, but experts have said Sinovac is safe. I hope that parents will get their children vaccinated to protect them as early as possible,” Yeung told a radio programme, without revealing the progress of the BioNTech talks.
“Our aim is to get [the vaccination rate] as high as possible,” Yeung said when asked if she would set a target.
Hong Kong confirmed 4,376 new coronavirus infections on Thursday, 196 of which were imported, and one related death. The city’s Covid-19 tally stands at 1,402,296 cases and 9,555 fatalities.
In addition to community vaccination centres and private clinics, authorities would also provide inoculation services at the Hong Kong Children’s Hospital and a vaccination centre at Tsing Yi MTR station starting next Monday, the minister said.
