The Government today announced that the Secretary for Food & Health has approved extending the age eligibility of the CoronaVac vaccine to people aged three to 17 with adolescents aged 12 to 17 accorded priority to receive the vaccine.

The Advisory Panel on COVID-19 Vaccines had earlier reviewed the application on lowering the age limit for receiving the CoronaVac vaccine to age three and recommended the health chief to approve the application.

The Government stressed that with reference to the advice of the panel and in view of the threat to public health posed by COVID-19, the Secretary for Food & Health considered the benefits of approving the extension of the age eligibility of the CoronaVac vaccine to those aged three to 17 outweigh the risks.

Doing so can protect them from the coronavirus infection and enable them to resume normal school and daily life as soon as possible, it explained.

The Government added that it will announce the vaccination arrangements for the adolescents as soon as practicable and extend the arrangements to children of a younger age at a later stage.