Hong Kong orders 5-year-old children to prove vaccination for restaurants, indoor venues 

HONG Kong will require children as young as age 5 to prove they are inoculated in order to enter restaurants, indoor play areas and other venues, health department authorities said, expanding the reach of its vaccine pass even as the rest of the world largely drops similar screening mechanisms. 

The city’s Leave Home Safe mobile app, which stores Covid immunisation records and tracks locations where visitors are required to check in, already is required for everyone aged 12 and older. The government is expanding the programme to include elementary school-aged children starting Sep 30.

Everyone in the expanded age group will be required to have at least an initial inoculation by the end of the month to enter a range of venues, including libraries and dental clinics. For those who got their first shot more than 3 months ago, a second dose is needed, said Libby Lee, the city’s under secretary for health, at the daily press briefing. By Nov 30, children aged 5 to 11 years old must be double vaccinated, she said. 

While not as strict as mainland China, the Asian financial centre continues to apply pandemic rules which have been abandoned in the rest of the world. Singapore largely scrapped its vaccine pass in April, while European nations, which pioneered the mechanism to boost inoculation rates last year, have also mostly ditched the mandate.  

Hong Kong is trying to find a middle way between China’s zero-tolerance approach and the “living with the virus” mindset of the rest of the world. Cases have hovered around the 10,000 per day mark since the start of the month. The city has not re-imposed mass closures or social distancing requirements, but is not fully opening up either. There were 11,091 new daily infections reported for Thursday (Sep 8). 

Lee said that the expansion of the pass is aimed at protecting more young kids. During the pandemic, 38 children aged 3 to 11 developed severe or critical Covid infections. Eight died, and none of them were fully vaccinated, she said. 

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Parents will be allowed to store their children’s health code on their phones, and can also present the documentation in paper form or via a screenshot.  

In addition, the vaccine pass for those 12 years old and older is being updated to require 3 shots for entry to venues from Nov 30, officials said. BLOOMBERG