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CS promotes support for DC election

With only 11 days left before the District Council (DC) election, Chief Secretary Chan Kwok-ki and Secretary for the Civil Service Ingrid Yeung today visited the Queensway Government Offices to promote the election to colleagues and urge them to vote with family and friends on December 10.   Also joining the visit were representatives from the four civil service central consultative councils and the four major service-wide staff unions.   Mr Chan said civil servants are determined to organise a decent DC election and have encouraged colleagues to vote together with friends and relatives, so as to discharge their civic responsibility as well as support and accomodate the Government's governance.   “I have visited and talked to colleagues from various government departments in the hope of continuing to widely disseminate the important message of supporting the DC election and voting together among civil servants,” he added.   The DC geographical constituencies, inform
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Advice on vaccine use published

Two scientific committees and the Chief Executive's expert advisory panel have considered that the benefit of using the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine generally exceeds the risk of not using any vaccines in people aged 60 or above.   The Scientific Committee on Vaccine Preventable Diseases and the Scientific Committee on Emerging & Zoonotic Diseases under the Centre for Health Protection (JSC) today published the consensus interim recommendations on using the CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine by Sinovac Biotech (Hong Kong) in Hong Kong.   The Advisory Panel on COVID-19 Vaccines had earlier submitted its recommendations to the Secretary for Food & Health and considered that, under the current epidemic situation, the benefits of authorising the use of Sinovac's vaccine for protecting against COVID-19 outweigh the risks.   It also recommended that the appropriateness of using CoronaVac in the elderly aged 60 or above should be advised by the two scientific committees.   The committees convened a meeting today, joined by the Chief Executive's expert advisory panel (EAP), to provide interim recommendations to the Government on the use of the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine in the city.   Given that phase 3 clinical studies of the vaccine have not been published in peer-reviewed journals, the JSC-EAP reviewed the data and information available, based on materials submitted to the advisory panel by Sinovac.   The interim recommendation might be updated based on additional safety and efficacy data from phase 3 clinical trials, international developments and conditions of emergency use approval in Hong Kong.   The impact of vaccine delivery on non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) was also deliberated at the joint meeting.   It was considered that at the current phase of the vaccination programme, there is limited evidence on the effects of vaccination on preventing transmission and there are constraints in vaccine availability. Population level protection will not be achieved in the short term.   It was also agreed at the meeting that vaccination is only one of the tools in the overall public health response to COVID-19 and the combination of NPIs with vaccination will allow for maximum protection against the virus.   There is a need to continue public health strategies on NPIs, including social distancing, good hand hygiene and wearing a mask in public places, to reduce the risk of transmission.   Delays in vaccine supply and suboptimal vaccine uptake would mean that NPI measures have to be kept in place for longer.   Click here for the interim recommendations.
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