Hong Kong experts back Covid shots starting at age 6 months

A HONG Kong panel of health advisers said children as young as six months old should be offered Covid-19 vaccines from BioNTech and Sinovac Biotech in an effort to protect the city’s youngest residents, said Lau Yu-lung, the chairman of the Scientific Committee on Vaccine Preventable Disease.

Hong Kong currently allows children as young as 3 years old to get Sinovac shots; those aged five and up can get the vaccine developed by BioNTech and its partner, Pfizer. 

The need to expand access to immunisation gained attention and urgency after a 22-month-old girl died on Monday (Aug 1) after contracting Covid and developing seizures, city health officials said. The authorities also reported a boy aged 3 is currently in intensive care with seizures after testing positive for the virus. 

The city’s rival financial hub, Singapore, said in late July that it may allow vaccinations for children aged 6 months to age 4 by the end of the year after 2 children died from Covid this summer in the city-state. Other countries, including the US and Canada, allow immunisations for children 6 months and older.  BLOOMBERG