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中 華 人 民 共 和 國 香 港 特 別 行 政 區 政 府 總 部 教 育 局

Government Secretariat, The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region The People’s Republic of China

本局檔號 Our Ref : EDB(SDCT)3/PRO/10/1/1 電話 Telephone :

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26 November 2021

To: Supervisors / Principals of all Secondary Schools, Primary Schools, Special Schools and Schools offering Non-Local Curriculum

Dear Supervisor / Principal,

COVID-19 Vaccination Programme An Update on Vaccination Arrangements

for Primary and Secondary Students Aged 12 to 17 years

Having regard to the advice of the Advisory Panel on COVID-19 Vaccines, the Secretary for Food and Health has approved the lowering of the age limit for receiving the Sinovac “CoronaVac vaccine” (“Sinovac vaccine”) to persons aged 3 to 17 years, and agreed that adolescents aged 12 to 17 years will be accorded priority to receive the Sinovac vaccine in accordance with the recommendations made by the Scientific Committee on Vaccine Preventable Diseases and the Scientific Committee on Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases under the Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health together with the Chief Executive’s expert advisory panel, with a view to extending to children of a younger age group at a later stage.

Vaccination Arrangements for Students

Starting from 2 December 2021, adolescents aged 12 to 17 years will be accorded priority to receive the Sinovac vaccine. To facilitate vaccination of students through arrangements made by schools, the Civil Service Bureau (CSB) will make available vaccination services for schools (including primary and secondary schools). For details, please refer to the information issued by the CSB (https://edb.gov.hk/en/sch-admin/admin/about-sch/diseases- prevention/early-vaccination.html). Schools should adequately communicate with their stakeholders in accordance with the school-based mechanism and

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encourage teachers and school staff, students and parents/guardians to receive vaccination, estimate the approximate number of participants and liaise early with the CSB to make appropriate arrangements. The vaccination arrangements for students in special schools will be announced separately.

Arrangements for Whole-Day Face-to-Face Classes

In order to tie in with the above priority arrangements for adolescents aged 12 to 17 years to receive Sinovac vaccine, the EDB has updated the arrangements of whole-day face-to-face classes and related activities for the 2021/22 school year.

The details are as follows:

If individual schools have achieved the below vaccination rates, the EDB will, taking into consideration the actual circumstances of the schools, allow such schools to arrange whole-day face-to-face classes for students:

(i) 70% or more of the teachers and school staff (including teaching and non-teaching staff) directly employed by the school have received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine for more than 14 days;

and

(ii) 70% or more of the students in the whole school have received one of the following vaccines for more than 14 days:

Age of Students

Comirnaty Vaccine Sinovac Vaccine

18 years or

above 2 doses 2 doses

12 to 17 years 1 dose

If schools cannot meet the above requirements to resume whole-day face- to-face classes for the whole school, but can meet the above requirements in a particular class level, we can also allow the schools concerned to arrange whole- day face-to-face classes and other activities for students in that particular class level.

For a school having fulfilled the above requirements and would like to arrange the whole school or students of an individual class level for whole-day face-to-face classes, after obtaining the endorsement of the Incorporated Management Committee /School Management Committee, the school should duly complete the Annex and notify the respective school development section of the EDB of the class resumption arrangements at least four working days before the target commencement date. The EDB will, in general, issue the reply slip within two working days. The school should inform parents, students and related stakeholders of its plan as early as possible. The school should keep the

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vaccination record of teachers and school staff properly. The abovementioned whole-day class arrangements are not applicable to Private Schools offering Non- Formal Curriculum. Schools need not re-submit the Annex if they have already notified the EDB regarding the whole-day face-to-face classes arrangements for the whole school or an individual class level.

For enquiries, please contact your respective Senior School Development Officers / Senior Services Officers.

Yours sincerely,

(Dr Verena LAU) for Secretary for Education

Annex

Notice of Whole-Day Face-to-Face Classes for Whole School / Individual Class Level(s)

To: District School Development Section [Fax no.： ]

In accordance with the letter issued by the Education Bureau (EDB) on 26 November 2021, we certify that we have fulfilled the conditions for arrangements of whole-day face-to-face classes for the whole school / individual class level(s)( ‘’ as appropriate in the following box):

 whole-day face-to-face classes for the whole school - (i) at least 70% of the teachers and school staff (including teaching and non-teaching staff) directly employed by our school have received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine for more than 14 days and (ii) at least 70% of the students of our school have received COVID19 vaccine as stated in the table of the above letter for more than 14 days.

 whole-day face-to-face classes for individual class level(s) - (i) at least 70% of the teachers and school staff (including teaching and non-teaching staff) directly employed by our school have received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine for more than 14 days and (ii) at least 70% of the students of _________________ (please fill in the class level(s)) have received COVID-19 vaccine as stated in the table of the above letter for more than 14 days.

With the endorsement of our Incorporated Management Committee / School Management Committee, our school plans to initiate the above-mentioned arrangement from ____ (day) __________(month) __________(year) on (_______) (day of the week (e.g. Monday)). We will strictly observe the relevant health guidelines and put in place all necessary health protection measures to keep the school environment clean and hygienic. We have also been keeping parents and other stakeholders informed of the related arrangements.

School Name: School Chop

(if any) Name of Supervisor / Principal (in BLOCK letters):

Signature of Supervisor / Principal:

Date:

Fax No.:

=================== Reply Slip (For completion by the EDB) =====================

Whole-day face-to-face classes for whole school / individual class level(s)

Dear Supervisor / Principal,

This is to acknowledge that the EDB has received your notification about the arrangements of whole- day face-to-face classes for the whole school/ individual class level(s) on the above-mentioned date.

[ ]District School Development Section Name of School Development Officer (in BLOCK letters):

Signature of School Development Officer:

Date: