Secretary for Health authorises paediatric and toddler formulation of Comirnaty vaccine for emergency use in Hong Kong
******************************************************************************************
According to the Regulation, the Secretary for Health may, with reference to the advice of the Advisory Panel on COVID-19 Vaccines, authorise the use of COVID-19 vaccines which fulfil the criteria of safety, efficacy and quality for specified use in Hong Kong under an emergency situation, which is basically for vaccination programmes led by the Government. The Advisory Panel has submitted its recommendations to the Secretary for Health. It considers that, under the current epidemic situation, the benefits of authorising the use of paediatric and toddler formulation of the Comirnaty vaccine for protecting against COVID-19 outweigh the risks.
Having regard to the advice of the Advisory Panel and having considered the threat to public health posed by COVID-19, the Secretary for Health considered that the authorisation is necessary and is in the public interest. The Secretary for Health has exercised the powers conferred upon him under section 3 of the Regulation to authorise the use of paediatric and toddler formulation of the Comirnaty vaccine in Hong Kong for a specified purpose. To ensure that the relevant vaccines continue to fulfil the requirements of safety, efficacy and quality, the Secretary for Health has attached conditions to the aforesaid authorisation, including requiring the applicant to continue providing the latest clinical data on the vaccines, safety update reports, and quality certification documents by the drug manufacturer for each batch of vaccines.
"The discussion between the Government and the relevant vaccine manufacturer is progressing well. We are waiting for the vaccine manufacturer to provide the schedule and information on the supply of the paediatric and toddler vaccines. In the face of the threat posed by the highly transmissible mutant virus strains, children are among our focuses of protection in the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme. We call on parents to arrange vaccination for their children as early as possible without delay, thus enabling them to have early protection," a Government spokesman said.
Ends/Wednesday, October 12, 2022
Issued at HKT 15:34
Issued at HKT 15:34
NNNN