Opinion | Covid-19 third-jab mandate for Hong Kong schools is illogical and merely punishes children

Name: Hong Kong Covid-19 cases could peak at 20,000 a day, expert warns
Uploaded: 2022-09-06T01:15:10.000Z
Duration: 2 min 22 s
Description: Hong Kong Covid-19 cases could peak at 20,000 a day, expert warns

The latest studies and data clearly indicate that the young, healthy and Covid-recovered do not need ongoing vaccination doses

The Education Bureau must provide a detailed science-based justification as to why its stepped-up measures are deemed ‘prudent’

Reading Time:4 minutes

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A child is vaccinated against Covid-19 at a centre in Ngau Chi Wan on August 28.
Photo: Felix Wong

Cecilia Thé

Published: 9:15am, 6 Sep 2022

According to the latest official Hong Kong data, the population group least at risk of Covid-19 deaths, by a large margin, are those 19 years and younger. Yet back to-school policies are sending the message that children are a high-risk group.

Secondary school students can only enjoy the privilege of full-day, in-person education if 90 per cent are triple vaccinated, and a two-shot vaccine pass is expected to be required soon for children as young as five. Despite substantial evidence to the contrary, there have been few, if any, questions raised about just what data-backed justification there is for these new policies.

Let’s consider the death statistics. Hong Kong defines a Covid-19 death as anybody with a positive Covid-19 result who dies within 28 days of the test. According to covidvaccine.gov.hk: “The underlying cause of death may have been unrelated to Covid-19”. Even so, the median age of death in the fifth wave is 86 years – higher than the average life expectancy of 85.4.

Among those aged 19 and younger, a total of 13 have died with Covid-19, most of whom suffered from serious pre-existing health issues. Statistically, this is a roughly 1 in 80,000 chance of dying with Covid-19. For the healthy, the chance drops to as low as one in a million. To put this into context, everybody in Hong Kong stands a much higher chance of dying in a traffic-related accident at one in 65,514.

02:22

Hong Kong Covid-19 cases could peak at 20,000 a day, expert warns

If preventing deaths is not the issue, might it be to reduce transmission? On the day of the Education Department’s demand for a third jab for all children, Hong Kong recorded 8,848 Covid-19 cases. Of these, 238 were students.

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