Govt to expand in-home vaccination service

The government said on Friday it will expand an in-home vaccination programme towards the end of this month for the elderly and those who are homebound in all 18 districts.

An online platform for registration will be launched on Tuesday, along with a hotline number, 5688 5234, for phone inquiries.

Patrick Nip, the official in charge of Hong Kong’s inoculation drive, said only the Sinovac jab would be available for now as it is more convenient to administer.

The eight-week programme, set to start on April 26, will target people aged 70 or older and those who have difficulty going out, he said.

Medics will be going out to four to five districts every week to inoculate people, then returning after 28 days to administer second jabs.

Nip said medics will assess the condition of each individual before vaccinating them.

He added that the authorities will actively encourage people to get jabbed.

“[Those working in] our hotline centre won’t just sit around and wait for inbound calls… they will take the initiative and contact the target groups and introduce them to the outreach vaccination service, and encourage them to sign up for it,” he said.

He also said authorities will arrange another round of outreach vaccination in care homes, as some residents had earlier been infected with Covid and couldn’t get jabbed.

Government figures as of Thursday evening showed that some 700,000 people aged 70 or above had received their first dose of Covid vaccine. That accounts for 73.5 percent of the total population in the age group.