Coronavirus: Hong Kong expands vaccines to 5.5 million people, while experts find no evidence directly linking Sinovac jabs to seven deaths
- Age threshold for recipients is lowered to 30, while domestic helpers and students studying overseas also now eligible
- Expert committee says the deaths of seven people after receiving China-made vaccine not directly tied to the shots based on initial findings
The announcement came on Monday even as experts monitoring the Covid-19 inoculation scheme concluded, based on preliminary findings, that all seven deaths in the past two weeks involving chronically ill patients could not be directly linked to the Chinese-manufactured Sinovac shots they had received.
The experts also revealed that one more person had suffered from facial paralysis symptoms after receiving the jab, but again could not establish any connection.
About 80 per cent of the population aged 16 or above, including domestic helpers and students studying overseas, would be able to book vaccination appointments from 9am on Tuesday, Nip said.
“Based on the experience in the past 18 days, we notice that there is still capacity to handle more and there are people who do not belong to the priority groups but who wish to be vaccinated early,” he said.
“The present expansion of the priority groups to include those aged 30 and above basically is to make more people who wish to be vaccinated get the vaccine and also to streamline the administrative arrangements.”
