Secretary for Health Prof Lo Chung-mau today visited Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital to get an update on the service of public hospitals. He toured the hospital’s specialist outpatient clinic, medical ward, accident and emergency department and hyperbaric oxygen therapy centre, followed by a meeting with its management and frontline healthcare staff to learn about the service demands and manpower deployment. Prof Lo said: "Having gone through the anti-epidemic work in the past three years, Hong Kong is on the road to full normalcy. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all healthcare staff for their efforts in performing duties and working tirelessly amidst immense work pressure to safeguard the city's healthcare system.” Noting that Hong Kong will see a sharp rise in the number of travellers with the full resumption of normal travel with the Mainland, Prof Lo said the Government will closely monitor the development of the CO
Scientific committees under the Centre for Health Protection today recommended the use of CoronaVac vaccine in adolescents from aged 12 to 17 for priority deployment, followed by children of a younger age group at a later stage.
The Advisory Panel on COVID-19 Vaccines recommended to extend the eligibility of the CoronaVac vaccine to cover children and adolescents aged three to 17 at its meeting on November 15.
Joined by the Chief Executive's expert advisory panel (EAP), the two scientific committees convened a meeting today to examine the relevant information and determine the priority groups for receiving the CoronaVac.
Speaking at a media session after the meeting, Scientific Committee on Vaccine Preventable Diseases Chairman Prof Lau Yu-lung said the joint scientific committee with the advisory panel has reached consensus to recommend that CoronaVac could be given right down to three-year-old children.
“However, we are of the opinion that we should do this in stages, like in many other countries as well as in the Mainland as well.
“That is to start off with the secondary school students, and then the primary school students and then the nursery school students. And that is a very natural progression, and also makes a lot of sense.”
He explained that the committees noted that phase 1 and 2 trials on the use of CoronaVac vaccine in children and adolescents aged three to 17 years showed that the vaccine is immunogenic, safe and well-tolerated.
In addition, ongoing phase 3 studies on the use of CoronaVac in this age group showed that the vaccine is well-tolerated.
He added that more than 100 million doses of CoronaVac vaccine have been administered to children and adolescents via a mass vaccination campaign in the Mainland, but without major safety issues shown.
The committees recommended the adolescents to get two shots of CoronaVac with at least a 28-day interval.
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