The SUN HK : Everyone aged 6 months up can now receive latest Covid-19 vaccine

The XBB vaccine will now be available to everyone qualified to get vaccinated against Covid-19

From today, March 27, everyone aged 6 months or above who are still not vaccinated against Covid-19 or have not yet completed initial doses, may receive the XBB vaccine which replaces the previous ancestral strain and bivalent vaccines.

In a press statement on Monday, the government also said that it procured 14,000 doses of XBB toddler and paediatric formulation which will be given as initial doses or booster doses to relevant children starting today.

Previously, the XBB vaccine was made available only to high-risk priority groups which included persons aged 50 and above and those living in residential care homes, adults aged 18 to 49 with underlying comorbidities, persons aged 6 months or above with immunocompromising conditions, pregnant women and healthcare workers.

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Such groups may receive the XBB vaccine as a choice for initial and booster shots.

However, according to a scientific committee formed by the Centre for Health Protection, a booster dose for this group is recommended to be given at least six months after the last dose or COVID-19 infection (whichever is later), regardless of the number of doses received previously.

The committee later recommended that the vaccination with XBB be extended to non high-risk priority groups. However, people in this group are only required to receive initial vaccination and should no longer get a booster shot.

The Government online booking system (booking.covidvaccine.gov.hk/forms/index.jsp) will be updated at 9am on March 27 to facilitate XBB vaccination for eligible members of the public to receive XBB vaccine.

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For the list of venues providing XBB vaccination, please visit (www.chp.gov.hk/files/pdf/xbb_venues_dec2023_eng.pdf).

For people who have made an online booking to receive other vaccines, XBB vaccines will be provided to complete their initial vaccination in venues offering XBB vaccination services.

Experts say that XBB vaccines could provide enhanced protection against JN.1, which has become the predominant COVID-19 variant in Hong Kong.

In line with this, the government launched the XBB vaccination arrangement on Dec 14 last year, and has procured about 200,000 doses of the new vaccine. As of Mar 24, about 126,000 doses have been administered.

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Meanwhile, government experts agreed that all available Covid-19 vaccines in Hong Kong, including inactivated virus and mRNA vaccines, remain effective in reducing death and severe COVID-19 infection. Residents may still choose to receive any of these vaccines based on personal choice.

The CHP said that local Covid-19 infection is still high. Data surveillance revealed that the positive detection rate from Mar 3 to 16 has exceeded the level recorded in the past six months.

The 50 cases classified as severe during this period also exceeded the level of about 30 cases weekly earlier this year.