Hong Kong authorizes Coronavac in age group 3 to 17 years old

Hong Kong has approved Coronavac for children and adolescents aged between three and 17, expanding the campaign to encourage its 7.5 million residents to get vaccinated.

“Adolescents from 12 to 17 years will have priority to receive the Sinovac Biotech vaccine, with a view to extending it to children of a younger age group at a later stage,” said the head of the Department of Food and Health (SFH, in English) from Hong Kong, Sophia Chan, in a statement published this Saturday (20).

According to the statement, the SFH found that the benefits of approving the extension of age eligibility for the age group from three to 17 “outweigh the risks”.

A Hong Kong government advisory panel on Covid-19 vaccines had previously recommended the SFH to pass the new age limit, the statement added.

The extension of age eligibility is because the vaccination campaign in the Asian financial center, which began in February, lags behind other developed economies, with around 67% of the population vaccinated, with immunizers approved in the country by Sinovac and Pfizer .

In a statement this Friday (19), the Hong Kong government said it had purchased 1 million extra doses of Pfizer’s vaccine for the implementation of the booster dose against Covid-19.

Hong Kong has followed Beijing’s lead in maintaining strict travel restrictions to contain new outbreaks of coronaviruses, in contrast to a global trend to relax measures

International business lobby groups have warned that Hong Kong could lose investments to rival financial centers unless it relaxes its travel restrictions.

Despite hardly any recent local cases and a virtually Covid-19-free environment, Hong Kong has imposed mandatory quarantine of up to 21 days for travelers from most countries