Children aged between six months and three years in Hong Kong may receive the Sinovac vaccine starting from Thursday, according to a press release of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government.

Ingrid Yeung, secretary for the civil service of the HKSAR government, visited a kindergarten-cum-child care center in To Kwa Wan Thursday to view the vaccination of children and appealed to parents to arrange COVID-19 vaccination for their children as soon as possible.

She said the HKSAR government will continue to increase the number of vaccination venues to facilitate the early vaccination of the public.

Maternal and Child Health Centers under the Department of Health of the HKSAR government are also preparing to provide the Sinovac vaccination service to children aged from six months to three years when they receive regular services with bookings from mid-August.

Since the start of a mass inoculation program in February last year, over 6.77 million people, or 93 percent of the eligible population in Hong Kong, have taken at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccines, while over 6.52 million, or 89.6 percent of the eligible population, have taken two doses.

As of Thursday, 67.7 percent of the eligible people in Hong Kong have taken the third dose, and 215,523 people have taken the fourth jab.

On Thursday, Hong Kong registered 4,773 confirmed locally transmitted cases of COVID-19 and 247 imported cases, official data showed.