The Government announced today (May 21) the arrangement on COVID-19 vaccinations for persons who have recovered from previous COVID-19 infection and appealed to them to receive a dose of COVID-19 vaccine if they have not yet received any after recovery so as to get further protection.
 
     Starting today, the Government will gradually notify via SMS messages those who have been discharged after recovery from previous COVID-19 infection and have not yet received any COVID-19 vaccine that they can receive a dose of COVID-19 vaccine at any Community Vaccination Centre (CVC) or private clinic enrolled in the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme. The Hospital Authority will also provide a customised factsheet on COVID-19 vaccination outlining the relevant vaccination arrangement to those recovered persons upon discharge from hospital.
 
     Those recovered persons can bring along the SMS message/factsheet concerned and go directly to any CVC or private doctor enrolled in the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme to make enquiries and arrange for vaccination following the recommended interval. No prior online booking is required.
 
     Concerning the various relaxations on social distancing measures under the concept of a "vaccine bubble", those recovered persons will be regarded to have completed the vaccination course 14 days after one dose of COVID-19 vaccination and a special arrangement will be made to reflect such a condition on their paper and electronic record of vaccination. Meanwhile, if the recovered persons have already received one dose of COVID-19 vaccine after discharge and have an appointment for the second dose, the Government will cancel the second-dose appointment for them. They can contact the service provider of their vaccination earlier to obtain the updated paper record of vaccination.
 
     The COVID-19 Vaccination Programme has been providing two vaccines, which are BioNTech, an mRNA vaccine, and Sinovac, an inactivated vaccine. According to the latest recommendation of the Scientific Committee on Vaccine Preventable Diseases and the Scientific Committee on Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases (collectively the JSC) under the Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health and the Chief Executive's expert advisory panel, recovered persons who wish to receive the BioNTech vaccine should wait for at least 90 days after discharge from previous infection. If they wish to receive the Sinovac vaccine, they should wait for at least 180 days after discharge from previous infection.
 
     Lists of CVCs and designated private clinics are available at www.covidvaccine.gov.hk/pdf/List_of_CVC_Venues.pdf and www.covidvaccine.gov.hk/en/VSS respectively.

     The Department of Health (DH) has put in place a pharmacovigilance system for COVID-19 immunisation, including receiving reports of Adverse Events Following Immunisation (AEFIs) related to the COVID-19 vaccines used in Hong Kong from healthcare professionals and pharmaceutical industries, and setting up the Expert Committee on Clinical Events Assessment Following COVID-19 Immunisation to provide independent assessment on the potential causal link between AEFIs and COVID-19 vaccination. The DH is also partnering with the University of Hong Kong to conduct an active surveillance programme for Adverse Events of Special Interest under the COVID-19 Vaccines Adverse Events Response and Evaluation Programme. The main purpose of the pharmacovigilance system is to detect potential signals of possible side effects of the vaccines.

     According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an AEFI is any medical occurrence that follows immunisation and that does not necessarily have a causal relationship with the usage of the vaccine. The Expert Committee conducts causality assessments based on the WHO algorithm for suspected serious adverse events.

     As of May 16, a total of 11 825 persons had been infected with COVID-19 and 210 had died of the disease in Hong Kong. Separately, about 1.96 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered for members of the public in Hong Kong. Around 1.17 million people had received at least one dose of a vaccine, accounting for 17.8 per cent of the population aged 16 or above. In the same period, the DH received about 2 890 reports of adverse events (0.15 per cent of the total vaccine doses administered), including 20 death cases with vaccination within 14 days before they passed away (0.001 per cent of the total vaccine doses administered). The Expert Committee concluded that five cases had no causal relationship with COVID-19 vaccination and preliminarily considered that 15 cases were not associated with vaccination. The Expert Committee considered there is no unusual pattern identified so far, and it will continue to closely monitor the situation and further collect more data for assessment. An updated report (as at May 16) is to be uploaded today (May 21).

     According to information from the Hospital Authority (HA), during the period from April 19 to May 16, the daily average of deaths at the Accident and Emergency Departments was 17.2. In the same period, the ratio of death cases out of those without a vaccination record was 53.9 cases for every 100 000 people, whereas the ratio of death cases for those with a vaccination record was three cases for every 100 000 people. The overall death rate is similar to that recorded in the past three years. Based on the statistical analysis of the above figures, there is no evidence that vaccination increases the risk of death for recipients.

     As of 4pm today (May 21), the DH had received one death case reported as a suspected serious adverse event with history of COVID-19 vaccination within 14 days from the HA in the past 24 hours (please refer to the Annex). According to the report, there was no clinical evidence to indicate association with vaccination and the HA had referred the case to the Coroner. The DH has contacted HA for more information and will pass the case based on the established mechanism to the Expert Committee for conducting causality assessment.

     The Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, chaired the eighth meeting of the Youth Development Commission (YDC) today (May 21). At the meeting, members were briefed on government measures on youth development that are relevant to the "Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China and the Long-range Objectives Through the Year 2035" (the 14th Five-Year Plan), and discussed relevant measures to nurture young people's positive thinking.
 
     The 14th Five-Year Plan has mentioned, among other things, enabling Hong Kong and Macao youths to study, work and start businesses in the Mainland cities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and establishing a brand of quality exchanges among the youths of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. Members took note of the various measures introduced by the Government that aim at enabling Hong Kong young people to study, work, participate in internships and start businesses on the Mainland, including the Greater Bay Area, as well as enabling them to pursue development and live on the Mainland. Members agreed that development of the Greater Bay Area could provide Hong Kong young people with a wider room for development, and that the measures introduced by the Government were conducive to helping young people grasp opportunities in the Greater Bay Area, thereby better enabling their integration with the overall development of the country. Members suggested that the Government should strengthen the promotion and publicity work of the relevant measures with a view to enabling young people to grasp the relevant information more effectively and enhancing their understanding of the development of the Greater Bay Area.
 
     Members were also briefed on the relevant policies and measures of the Government that aim at nurturing young people's positive thinking, including measures supporting youth mental health, promoting outdoor adventure training activities, providing support in schools and through social welfare organisations, as well as relevant youth programmes offered by the disciplined services. In particular, as a new measure promulgated in the 2020 Policy Address, the YDC had earlier agreed that a new thematic funding scheme be introduced under the Youth Development Fund to subsidise eligible non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to collaborate with schools to provide systematic, quality and sizeable local outdoor adventure training activities for young people. After further deliberation on the details and a site visit, the YDC had decided to roll out the scheme on a pilot basis in collaboration with the Hong Kong Award for Young People. Subject to the development of the epidemic, the pilot scheme could be rolled out this summer at the earliest, targeting to benefit not fewer than 500 young participants. 
 
     In view of the importance of nurturing young people's positive thinking in promoting youth development, and the need of cross-bureau and cross-sectoral collaboration in taking forward relevant work, the YDC agreed that the third policy thematic meeting should deliberate on the theme of "young people's positive thinking". It is hoped that, through focused discussion, the YDC could raise public awareness towards the promotion of young people's positive thinking and their well-being. At the same time, through live broadcasts on social media, the YDC could also directly listen to the views of young people and relevant stakeholders, thereby facilitating the Government and the relevant sectors to further enhance the relevant work.
 
     Members noted the progress of various youth development projects under the YDC. The YDC announced in February this year the list of funded NGOs of the Funding Scheme for Youth Entrepreneurship in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (the Entrepreneurship Scheme) and the Funding Scheme for Experiential Programmes at Innovation and Entrepreneurial Bases in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. In particular, the 16 funded NGOs under the Entrepreneurship Scheme were progressively rolling out their youth entrepreneurship projects and recruitment efforts, which so far have met with a positive response. To date, six funded NGOs have received a total of more than 1 200 applications, while the other 10 funded NGOs were currently accepting or would soon accept applications. Interested young people may visit the thematic website "We Venture" (www.weventure.gov.hk/en/) for details and directly approach the NGOs concerned for enquiries and applications.

The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:

     Details of the meetings of the Legislative Council (LegCo) and its Committees to be held in the LegCo Complex during the week from May 24 to 28 are available in the meeting schedule attached.
 
     The information in the meeting schedule is subject to change.  Please refer to the "LegCo Calendar" on the LegCo Website (www.legco.gov.hk) for the latest details of meetings.
 
     Members of the public can watch or listen to the meetings via the "Webcast" system on the LegCo Website. To observe the proceedings of the meetings at the LegCo Complex, members of the public may call 3919 3399 during office hours to reserve seats.

     The Lands Department (LandsD) announced today (May 21) that a site, Lot No. 4076 in Demarcation District No. 91 at the junction of Fan Kam Road and Castle Peak Road – Kwu Tung, Fanling, New Territories, in the 2021-22 Land Sale Programme will be disposed of by public tender. The tender invitation for the lot will commence on May 28 and close on June 25.

     â€‹Lot No. 4076 in Demarcation District No. 91 has a site area of about 4,400 square metres and is designated for private residential purposes. The minimum gross floor area is 15,840 sq m and the maximum gross floor area that may be attained is 26,400 sq m.

     Land sale documents including the Form of Tender, the Tender Notice, the Conditions of Sale and the sale plan of the lot will be available for downloading from the LandsD website (www.landsd.gov.hk), and the sale plan will be available for distribution and inspection by the public from May 28, when the particulars of the tender will also be gazetted.

     Starting from this tender exercise, the sale plan in DWG/DGN format concerning the subject sale site and the coloured areas referred to in the Conditions of Sale will also be available for downloading from the LandsD website.