The government announced on Friday that a batch of around 19,000 doses of the paediatric formulation of the BioNTech Comirnaty vaccine has arrived in Hong Kong.
The jabs will be available for children aged between five and 11 from November 2.
“Currently, children aged 5 to 11 can receive a fractional dose (i.e. one-third of a dose) of the Comirnaty vaccine for adults at the four Children Community Vaccination Centres. Following the arrival of the paediatric formulation of the Comirnaty vaccine, starting from November 2, children in that age group would receive the paediatric formulation if they choose Comirnaty vaccine, instead of receiving fractional doses of the Comirnaty vaccine for adults as in the current arrangement,” a government spokesperson said.
“Vaccination venues, booking arrangements and dosing intervals will remain the same. The vaccination workflow will become more efficient with the paediatric formulation compared with using fractional doses of the Comirnaty vaccine for adults.”
The government urged parents to take their children to get jabbed as soon as possible, saying it is crucial to protect children against highly transmissible mutant virus strains.
Authorities added that they are still in discussion with the vaccine manufacturer about the supply of toddler jabs to Hong Kong.
“The discussion in relation to toddler vaccines is progressing well and announcement will be made as soon as there is further information,” the spokesman said.
