As the Post previously reported, some 50,000 unvaccinated children aged five to 11, or about 12 per cent of that age group, could be ineligible for a vaccine pass from Friday. Yeung said the figure was “not a lot”, adding it took into account recovered patients in the age group.

Yeung, who is responsible for the roll-out of vaccines locally, said officials would continue to engage parents in schools as well as through popular online channels. Officials recently launched a video campaign at Baby Kingdom, an online forum used by many parents of young children, to spread information about vaccine efficacy and safety.

An online petition launched on Tuesday is calling for exempting children from the vaccine pass scheme on the grounds that barring unvaccinated ones from many public places could affect their development. By Thursday night, it had collected about 1,500 signatures.

Chinese medicine could help relieve ‘long Covid’ symptoms: Hong Kong study

Sabrina Hosford, 43, who started the petition, said she and her husband had received three doses of vaccine, but her nine-year-old son and six-year-old daughter, who were infected before, had not taken any shots.

“I felt that the children should have the opportunity to choose together with their parents whether the vaccine is right for them without the fear of feeling that they are going to be alienated or discriminated against,” Hosford, who worked in the food distribution said.

Although their children had asked to be inoculated so that they could take part in their extracurricular activities, the couple still had doubts over the safety of the vaccine, believing that the virus had become less threatening over time.

“There might be a lot of tears with our kids [on Friday] so we’re going to have … a lot of conversations about why we’re doing what we’re doing,” Hosford said.

She added that they would have to find alternatives for them to socialise and have fun as her daughter would have to give up her gymnastics class and baseball team training due to the vaccine pass, while her son was still exempted due to his previous infection.

Hosford said with the signatures, she hoped to have a platform where parents could share their voices and discuss with the authorities on further review of the measure.

Yeung also addressed the Department of Health’s announcement on Wednesday that two children, both aged two, had experienced “facial weakness” after receiving the Sinovac vaccine last week.

“I believe these were just very isolated incidents,” she said.

She cited Dr Mike Kwan Yat-wah, a consultant at Princess Margaret Hospital’s paediatric infectious disease unit, who said the two patients had mild conditions and did not require hospitalisation, noting such incidents were also seen with flu shot recipients every year.

For another government target group, the elderly, Yeung said the vaccination rate for those aged 70 to 79 had risen from 46.8 per cent three months ago to 67 per cent, but the figure for residents aged 80 and above had barely moved, increasing by just 1 percentage point from 70 to 71 per cent.

7 doctors accused of giving fake exemptions banned from Hong Kong vaccine scheme

“There is still a lot of room for improvement … I hope residents don’t wait around any more and get vaccinated as soon as possible,” she said.

City leader John Lee Ka-chiu and others in the government have repeatedly warned that the vaccination rate among the elderly and children has to be improved to protect vulnerable populations, and allow the city to reopen to the world.

Hong Kong on Thursday reported 4,269 new Covid-19 infections, 245 of which were imported and five additional deaths. The city’s tally stands at 1,761,381 and 10,153 fatalities.

Meanwhile, former chief executive Leung Chun-ying on Thursday said doctors who issued fake Covid-19 vaccination exemption certificates should be jailed as a warning to other doctors.

His comments came after six general practitioners were arrested this month on suspicion of issuing exemption documents without following the relevant government guidelines, while a seventh was wanted by police.

Leung likened the medical diagnosis done by doctors to due diligence - the investigation that should be conducted when a business contract is signed.

“If auditors and appraisers do not conduct due diligence and sign anything that the clients asked for, or even charge the clients more than the usual amount, this is not simply abusing the issuance of certificates,” he said.

“This is not only an issue of professional negligence or error, but also a problem of corruption and bribery.”