BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for toddlers to arrive in Hong Kong on Friday and will be available next week, authorities say

The BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for children aged six months to five years old is expected to arrive in Hong Kong on Friday, and will be available at vaccination centres next week, health authorities have said.

Undersecretary for Health Libby Lee Ha-yun on Thursday said that with the introduction of the toddler vaccine, parents would have an additional option when considering vaccinating their children as young as six months.

“We have purchased the toddler version of the BioNTech vaccine, which is being delivered to Hong Kong, hoping that it will arrive tomorrow. We will later announce more details to the public,” Lee said.

“We are planning to provide these toddler formulations at community vaccination centres for children next week. We will update the booking system in the short term.”

Lee said the full course of the vaccination for toddlers would involve three doses, adding that the second shot should be taken at least 56 days after the first one and the third should be 90 days after that.

Professor Lau Yu-lung, chairman of the Scientific Committee on Vaccine Preventable Diseases, called the availability of the BioNTech vaccine for young children “good news”, because an additional option would encourage more parents to take their toddlers for a jab and drive up the inoculation rate among this age group.

“Having choices is very important in trying to push up vaccination uptake, so the addition of the BioNTech vaccine for children aged six months to five years is very welcome,” he said, appealing to parents to get their youngsters jabbed as soon as possible.

But Lau also said he was aware of some parents’ concerns over the vaccines, and did not expect the inoculation rate among toddlers under three years old to surge to between 50 and 60 per cent by the end of the year from below 20 per cent currently.