Hong Kong expands vaccine scheme to under 30s

HONG Kong authorities said yesterday the city’s vaccine scheme would be widened to include those aged between 16 and 29 for the first time, as they aim to boost demand for inoculations in the Asian financial hub.

Hong Kong has seen a relatively slow take-up of vaccines since rolling out the scheme in February, with only around 8 percent of its 7.5 million residents having been inoculated so far.

Patrick Nip, Secretary for the Civil Service, said that the widening of the scheme would enable a total of 6.5 million residents to take part.

“We appeal to the public to take the vaccine as soon as possible so Hong Kong won’t fall into the vicious cycle of wave after wave of outbreak,” he said.

The widening of the scheme comes three days after the city’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam said Hong Kong would loosen some coronavirus restrictions for residents who have been fully inoculated from late April.

The city confirmed six new coronavirus cases. Of the two locally transmitted infections, one was untraceable. The rest were imported from France, India, Italy and the Philippines.

The city began vaccinating residents with doses from Sinovac in February.

It started offering a vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech in March.

Residents can choose which vaccine they take with the Pfizer-BioNTech shot seeing far greater demand.

On a daily basis, two to three times more people booked inoculation with the

BioNTech shot than with the Sinovac one, according to government figures.

Nip said residents aged 16 and 17 can only receive the BioNTech dose while those older than 18 can choose between the shot and the Sinovac vaccine.

Around 632,000 people have received their first vaccination dose, around 8 percent of the city’s population.

Hong Kong has recorded around 11,600 total coronavirus cases, far fewer than other developed cities.