The Macau government has lowered the minimum age for the administration of BioNTech mRNA vaccines to six months, after jabs for children aged from six months to four years were delivered to Macau on Friday.
The announcement of lowering the minimum vaccination age was made through an executive order by Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng published in the Official Gazette (BO) yesterday. The executive order takes effect today, which means that the administration of the BioNTech mRNA doses for kids aged from six months to four years will start today.
Before today, BioNTech mRNA jabs had only been administered to those aged five or over in Macau.
According to yesterday’s executive order that takes effect today, inactivated COVID-19 vaccines are permitted for people aged three years or over – as previously, while mRNA vaccines are now permitted for people aged six months or over.
The other type of COVID-19 vaccine currently available in the city, China’s Sinopharm inactivated vaccine, has been used for those aged three or over since late last year.
BioNTech bivalent jabs also arrive, but only for booster shots
In addition to BioNTech mRNA jabs for children aged from six months to four years, the Macau government has also purchased BioNTech mRNA bivalent vaccines that provide antibody protection against the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, in addition to antibody protection against the original COVID-19 strain.
The two new types of BioNTech mRNA jabs arrived in Macau on Friday, the Macau Health Bureau (SSM) announced in a statement that night.
However, the Health Bureau did not say how many doses of the two types of vaccines it has purchased from the German manufacturer.
According to a Health Bureau announcement last week, the new BioNTech mRNA bivalent vaccine is only used for the administration of COVID-19 booster jabs in Macau, meaning that it is not used for the administration of the first two jabs that provide basic full immunity. Last week’s announcement said that the new bivalent vaccine aims to enable Macau to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic that is currently driven by the Omicron variant.
Currently, the Macau government’s COVID-19 booster vaccination programme generally covers all those aged 18 or over who have been fully inoculated with inactivated vaccines or mRNA vaccines.
However, those aged 12 or over who are moderately or severely immunocompromised are also covered by Macau’s COVID-19 booster vaccination programme.
In addition, since June this year those aged between 12 and 17 have also been allowed to receive a booster jab if they want, such as that they need to visit places affected by COVID-19, but in which case they can only choose the BioNTech mRNA vaccine for their booster shot.
Both types of COVID-19 vaccines currently available in Macau, Sinopharm inactivated vaccine and BioNTech mRNA vaccine, are two-dose vaccines, i.e., requiring two jabs to develop basic full immunity.
Last week’s Health Bureau announcement also noted that the new BioNTech mRNA vaccine for kids aged from six months to four years is a monovalent vaccine (aka univalent) that only contains components for the original COVID-19 strain.
As of last Thursday, Macau’s COVID-19 vaccination rate (at least one jab) stood at 95.3 percent, according to official data.
A health worker administers a BioNTech mRNA jab to a baby at Hong Kong Children’s Hospital in Kowloon Bay earlier this month.
– Photo: Hong Kong’s Information Services Department (ISD)
