Children as young as 12 years old will be able to receive the BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, Hong Kong health authorities have said as a survey indicates continued disinterest locally in getting a jab.

Details of the vaccination arrangements for children will be available early next week, after Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan approved the idea on Thursday following unanimous support from the government’s medical advisers on COVID-19 vaccination.

Currently, people above 16 years of age are eligible for the citywide inoculation scheme, which began in February.

Chan “considered that the benefits of lowering the age limit for receiving the Comirnaty vaccine outweigh the risks,” the Food and Health Bureau said, referring to the jabs developed by German biotechnology company BioNTech.

“Not only can it protect adolescents from COVID-19 infection, it can also enable them to resume normal school and daily life as soon as possible,” the bureau added.

The expanded scheme will likely cover another 244,00 people, according to official data. The German-made vaccine “has significant results” for children aged 12 to 15, advisory panel convenor Wallace Lau told a radio program, citing research by the drugmaker.

None of the vaccinated people in the research group were infected, and the protection rate reached 100%, he added.

A poll conducted several weeks ago suggested that the city’s vaccination rate would remain sluggish.

Only about a quarter of the survey respondents said they planned to receive a vaccine in the next six months, the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s medicine faculty found. Respondents said that insufficient information about the vaccines and a lack of confidence in the government and drugmakers were the greatest hindrances.

The faculty interviewed 1,200 adults by phone from April 23 to May 8 to look into their intent about COVID-19 vaccination, and found that 23.9% of respondents said they had received at least one dose.

Most of the respondents who were still unvaccinated said they were deterred by news about deaths and other acute adverse events following inoculation.

The survey signaled that the vaccination rate in Hong Kong would continue to be low, and it was necessary for the government to revise its strategy to address the main reasons why residents were unwilling to be immunized, said Paul Chan, chairperson of the university’s microbiology department.

As of June 1, only 21% of the Hong Kong population had received their first dose, and about 16% were fully vaccinated, health officials said. Medical experts have said the city needs to reach an immunization rate of around 70% to achieve COVID-19 herd immunity.

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