Secretary for the Civil Service Patrick Nip today appealed to the public to get vaccinated early, saying that the Government's objective is to achieve a vaccination rate of 70% of the eligible population.

Mr Nip made the appeal at a media session after attending a radio programme this morning.

He said both the Sinovac and BioNTech vaccines approved for emergency use in Hong Kong fulfilled the criteria of safety, efficacy and quality. People, especially the elderly, should get their jabs as soon as possible.

"I hope that the public would get their first dose before the end of August so that we can achieve the vaccination rate of 70% of our eligible population as early as possible because it is very essential for our community to return to normal, for cross-boundary travel to other places."

"For the elderly population, aged 60 and above, the present vaccination rate is just around 25%.

"It is very low and it puts our elderly at risk should there be another wave of COVID-19 outbreak in the community."

The Government will also review the vaccination arrangements, Mr Nip added.

"We would closely monitor the bookings and also the vaccination situation in the next two weeks.

"And then we would decide the way forward including whether any adjustments need to be made to the vaccination arrangements.

"But it is very clear that the community vaccination centre cannot operate for a very long time because it has been in operation for more than 140 days, seven days a week, from 8am to 8pm."