20 January 2022
To: Supervisors / Principals of all Secondary Schools, Primary Schools, Special Schools, Schools offering Non-Local Curriculum, Kindergartens, and Kindergartens cum Child Care Centres
Dear Supervisor / Principal,
COVID-19 Vaccination Programme
Vaccination Arrangements for Students who are Aged 5-17 years
The Government provides the following two types of COVID-19 vaccines, namely Sinovac CoronaVac vaccine (Sinovac vaccine) and Fosun/BioNTech vaccine (BioNTech vaccine), which are used for preventing COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus. The Scientific Committee on Vaccine Preventable Diseases and the Scientific Committee on Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases (JSC) under the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health, joined by the Chief Executive's expert advisory panel (EAP) on 17 January published an update of the consensus interim recommendations on the use of COVID-19 vaccines in children in Hong Kong.
a) Sinovac vaccine, which uses the inactivated virus technology (Vero cell) platform. The recommended schedule consists of 2 doses administered 28 days apart.
b) BioNTech which uses the mRNA technology platform. The JSC- EAP recommends the use of a fractional dose of the BioNTech for adults in children aged 5 to 11. The recommendation on dosing
interval between the two doses of the fractional dose of BioNTech for children is at least 12 weeks apart.
In addition, in response to expert advice, intramuscular injection of the BioNTech vaccine at mid-anterolateral thigh is recommended to be arranged for children/ adolescents. They may wear loosely fit, easy-to-roll-up or any other suitable clothing to facilitate vaccination.
In the light of the recommendations, the Government announced on 20 January that children aged 5 to 11 can receive the Sinovac vaccine as from 21 January. As there is a special dilution procedure for children aged 5 to 11 to receive the BioNTech vaccine and that an interval of 12 weeks is required for children to receive the first and the second doses, the Government will set up three Children Community Vaccination Centres (CCVCs) on Hong Kong Island, in Kowloon and in the New Territories for children aged 5 to 11 to receive the vaccine as from 16 February.
Before making an appointment for the COVID-19 vaccine, please note that there must be at least 14 days between the COVID-19 vaccine and other vaccines (including seasonal influenza vaccine).
The arrangements for students to receive the vaccination are as follows.
Students and participants have to bring their original identity documents to receive vaccination. In the event that the identity document of a student does not contain any photograph of the student, such as a birth certificate, the student has to present his/ her school document (such as a school handbook), which has the student’s photograph, to receive vaccination.
I) Vaccination of Sinovac vaccine for students aged between 5 and 17, or vaccination of BioNTech for students aged between 12 and 17
a) Vaccination Subsidy Scheme (VSS) School Outreach (for Sinovac vaccination only)
Primary schools and kindergartens (including kindergartens cum child care centres) can through the Education Bureau (EDB) approach VSS doctors, who would provide COVID-19 school outreach vaccination service. Secondary schools may contact VSS doctors direct for arranging Sinovac vaccination. They may refer to the Guidelines on Arranging Outreach COVID-19 Vaccination
Activities through Vaccination Subsidy Scheme (VSS) before arrangement of VSS school outreach: https://www.chp.gov.hk/file s/pdf/covid19vss_guidelinesforschooloutreach_eng.pdf. For each visit in primary schools and kindergartens there should be at least 150 participants. Schools have to undertake part of the venue set up and provide cleansing services. We welcome school staff, parents and guardians to receive vaccination on that day.
EDB will issue a letter to schools to inform them of the related arrangements. The vaccination arrangement for special schools will be separately promulgated.
b) Community Vaccination Centre (CVC) through group bookings made by schools
Time slots will be pre-arranged for your school through group bookings each of 20 to 30 persons and several time slots may be reserved.
Your school can make booking for transportation between CVC and school on the vaccination day with our school bus contractor direct. At least two school teachers are required to accompany the students for each school bus and to assist them at the CVC for each time slot. School staff as well as parents and guardians are welcome to go together CVC that day to receive the vaccination.
c) Designated Student Health Service Centre (SHSC) of the Department of Health through group bookings (for Sinovac vaccination for primary and secondary students only)
Schools can make group bookings each of 20 to 30 students and be accompanied by at least two teachers for vaccination of Sinovac vaccine at five designated SHSCs of the Department of Health, namely Chai Wan, Lam Tin, Sha Tin, Tuen Mun and Western SHSCs in the morning (address can be found in the website website:
https://www.studenthealth.gov.hk/english/centre/centre.html).
Your school can make booking with our school bus contractor for transportation between SHSC and school on the vaccination day.
Vaccination service is only provided for students but parents/
guardians are welcome to accompany their children/ wards to take the school bus to the site.
d) School outreach by COVID-19 Mobile Vaccination Station
We may provide outreach vaccination service of Sinovac vaccine or BioNTech vaccine to your school by COVID-19 Mobile Vaccination Station. Please note that the Mobile Vaccination Station requires a playground that have a direct access for truck to reach and park there, or crane truck to unload a container, and services will run from Tuesday to Thursdayat 8:30 am, 11:30 am or 2:30 pm. For each visit there should be at least 150 persons, and only one type of vaccine will be administered. School staff, parents and guardians are welcome to receive vaccination together that day.
School is required to provide a name list of attending students, parents/ guardians and school staff when the request is made. If the outreach cannot be materialised, schools would be arranged to receive vaccination at CVC through group bookings as assigned by us. School staff as well as parents and guardians are welcome to receive vaccination that day.
e) Self-arrangement by parents/ guardians and students
Parents and guardians can also make their own bookings at CVCs for their children through the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme website (https://booking.covidvaccine.gov.hk/forms/index.jsp) direct. Persons aged below 18 should bring along the completed Consent Form to the CVCs for vaccination. Moreover, for children who are between 5 and 11years old, apart from the Consent Form, they have to be accompanied by an adult family member to receive vaccination.
For students who are immunocompromised persons, they must bring along the signed parent/ guardian’s Consent Form as well as a medical certificate, and be accompanied by their parents/
guardians to a community vaccination centre on the day of vaccination so that they can receive the third dose four weeks after their second dose.
Students are also encouraged to make an appointment with private doctors or clinics under the Vaccination Programme for vaccination of Sinovac vaccine direct (the list of private doctors/clinics, with more than a thousand enrolled doctors at present, is available at the designated website of the Vaccination
Programme (https://www.covidvaccine.gov.hk/en/VSS); or at private healthcare institutions concerned under the Pilot Scheme for BioNTech vaccine for free (the contact details of enrolled private healthcare institutions is at_https://www.chp.gov.hk/files/p df/list_vssdr_covid_bnt_pilot_eng.pdf). Moreover, primary and secondary students can also make appointment at designated SHSCs for vaccination of Sinovac vaccine. Parents can call Student Health Service at 2856 9133 during service hours from 9:00am to 1:00pm and 2:00pm to 6:00pm from Monday to Friday (except public holidays) for appointment booking.
II) Vaccination of BioNTech vaccine for students aged between 5 and 11
a) CCVC through group bookings made by schools (for BioNTech vaccination)
Time slots will be pre-arranged for your school through group bookings each of 20 to 30 persons at CCVCs and several time slots may be reserved. You may refer to paragraph I(b) above for related arrangements. The vaccination is limited to children between 5 and 11 years old, but parents and guardians of students are welcome to accompany their children/ wards to the centre.
b) Self-arrangement by parents/ guardians and students
Parents and guardians can also make their own bookings for their children/ wards at CCVCs through the COVID-19
Vaccination Programme website
(https://booking.covidvaccine.gov.hk/forms/index.jsp) direct starting from 9 February 2022. Children who are between 5 and 11years old, apart from the Consent Form, they have to be accompanied by an adult family member to receive vaccination.
These CCVCs only provide vaccination service to children aged between 5 and 11.
The preparatory work and timeline, together with invitation email templates to parents / guardians, parent / guardian’s consent form, school reply form, can be obtained from the website of the Education Bureau (https://www.edb.gov.hk/en/sch-admin/admin/about-sch/diseases-prevention /early-vaccination.html). Primary schools and kindergartens (including kindergartens cum child care centres) can approach VSS doctors, who would
provide COVID-19 outreach vaccination service, through the Education Bureau (item I(a) above). Please refer to the letter from EDB later for details.
On the other hand, please indicate your choice of CVC group bookings (items I(b) and II(a) above), SHSC group bookings (item I(c) above), or school outreach by mobile vaccination unit (item I(d) above) by returning the school reply form by email to [email protected] as soon as possible for arrangement.
Please visit the link to read the relevant FAQs for more information on the vaccination for adolescents and children (https://www.covidvaccine.gov.
hk/pdf/FAQ_children_adolescents_ENG.pdf). For more information about the Programme in general, please visit the website of COVID-19 Vaccination Programme at https://www.covidvaccine.gov.hk. Please contact the School Development Section of your district for enquiries.
Thank you for your support in advance.
Yours faithfully,
( Hermes Chan )
for Secretary for the Civil Service
