Hong Kong has approved lowering the age limit for the Covid-19 vaccine from China’s Sinovac Biotech to three, down from 18 years of age.
Hong Kong’s secretary for food and health, Sophia Chan, said in a statement published on Saturday: “Adolescents aged 12 to 17 will be accorded priority to receive the CoronaVac vaccine, with a view to extending to children of a younger age group at a later stage.”.
She considered the benefits of approving the extension of the age eligibility to cover those aged three to 17 outweighed the risks, the statement said.
A Hong Kong government advisory panel on Covid vaccines had earlier recommended that the minister approve the new age limit, it said.
The extension of the age eligibility comes after Hong Kong’s vaccination campaign, which started in February, has lagged behind many other developed economies. About 67% of the population have received two shots of either Sinovac or Germany’s BioNTech vaccine.
The city’s government said in separate statement on Friday that it had purchased 1m extra doses of BioNTech vaccine for third dose Covid vaccinations.
Hong Kong has followed Beijing’s lead in retaining strict travel restrictions to curb new outbreaks, in contrast to a global trend of opening up and living with the coronavirus.
International business lobby groups have said Hong Kong could lose talent, investment and competitive ground to rival finance hubs such as Singapore unless it relaxes its restrictions on travel.
Despite barely any recent local cases and an environment virtually free of Covid, Hong Kong has imposed mandatory hotel quarantine of up to 21 days for arrivals from most countries at the travellers’ cost.