Hong Kong’s Ministry of Health has implemented tough new COVID-19 restrictions with children as young as five needing a vaccine pass to enter various venues across the city.
However, in the face of mounting concern from parents, Secretary for the Civil Service, Ingrid Yeung Ho Poi-yan said she did not think there would be large numbers of children barred from entering premises such as restaurants, libraries and sports venues.
This seems to fly in the face of her own statistics, which state that among some 400,000 children aged between five and 11, around 50,000 of have not received a single dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
Ms Yeung (pictured) said authorities would continue to implement campaigns to promote COVID-19 vaccinations for younger children, encouraging parents to consent to their children getting the jabs.
This has been stymied in recent days following the much-publicised case of two toddlers suffering facial weakness after receiving jabs of the Chinese-produced Sinovac vaccine.
“These are isolated incidents,” Ms Yeung insisted.
“There is a high chance of the children making a full recovery,” she said, claiming that toddlers receiving other vaccines could also result in them having short-term facial paralysis.
She said the two-year-olds, a boy and a girl, were in a stable condition.
Hong Kong, 2 October 2022
