Parents Rush To Have Young Kids Jabbed With Sinovac

Parents are rushing to have their small children inoculated with the Sinovac vaccine after the government lowered the age limit for the Covid-19 jab to three years old.

Bookings for the shots opened at 8am on Tuesday.

Some parents who took their kids to the vaccination centres told RTHK that the recent outbreaks are worrying, noting a four-year-old boy had died soon after being tested preliminary positive for the coronavirus, and an infected toddler was in a critical condition.

A woman surnamed Cheung said she wanted her son to have immunity against the coronavirus.

"I want him to be vaccinated and has the immunity to protect him from Covid-19. I heard about the news and don't want to same thing to happen to anyone [else]," she said.

Another woman surnamed Yeung said she had been waiting for the vaccine to be approved for young children.

"I was planning to take my child to the mainland to get vaccinated, as it wasn't available for three-year-olds earlier [in Hong Kong]. Also all members of our family need to go to work. We're afraid it's dangerous if he's not vaccinated,” she said.

A father surnamed Ko said his son is too young for the BioNTech jab – with the minimum age for this vaccine to be lowered to five years old from Wednesday.

"My child is only about four years old and not yet five, so he is not eligible for BioNTech. I don't want to wait because the epidemic situation recently has become critical, it's better to get vaccinated now - when Sinovac is available," he said.