Secretary for the Civil Service, Patrick Nip Tak-kuen, said those eligible to get the jab can start making appointments through the government’s designated website next Friday on April 23 at 9am.

“The expansion will cover an additional 1.08 million Hong Kong citizens, with the city’s vaccination program now covering a total of 6.5 million people, equal to 88 percent of Hong Kong’s total population,” said Nip.

However, he added that only those aged 18 or above can choose to receive either the BioNTech or Sinovac jab, while those aged 16 and 17 can only receive the BioNTech jab.

Those aged 16 and 17 must also get consent from their parents in order to be vaccinated. The relevant parent consent form can be downloaded from the government’s designated website for the vaccination program.

Meanwhile, three more community vaccination centers will start administering the BioNTech jabs, including the centers at Tseung Kwan O Sports Centre, Yau Oi Sports Centre in Tuen Mun and Osman Ramju Sadick Memorial Sports Centre in Tsuen Wan.

The two centers in Tseung Kwan O and Tuen Mun will start administering the jabs on April 20, while the Tsuen Wan center will start on May 1.

Appointments for the three additional centers will be made available to members of the public starting at 9am tomorrow.

The civil service chief also said the community vaccination centers are expected to run until late September, reminding members of the public who wish to get vaccinated should make their appointments for the first jab in late August at the latest in order to complete the full two-dose vaccination.

After the closure of the vaccination centers, citizens can still get the Sinovac jabs from private doctors or clinics enrolled in the vaccination program, or from public clinics managed by the Hospital Authority.

As of 2.30pm today, over 640,000 people have so far received their first dose since the start of the vaccination program 49 days ago. A total of 967,000 doses of the Covid vaccine have been administered.