Local group helps vaccination of 30,000 kids

HONG KONG - A local volunteer group formed to fight COVID-19 said on Wednesday that it has helped arrange vaccinations for more than 30,000 children and distributed anti-epidemic supplies to 763 care homes for the elderly in the two weeks since it was established on March 7.

In a media briefing, Tam Chun-kwok, one of the conveners of Hong Kong Volunteers Against Coronavirus, said the group has completed the first phase of the support program for the elderly. As of March 20, the organization has distributed 1.64 million face masks, 730,000 rapid test kits, 50,000 boxes of Lianhua Qingwen Jiaonang, a proprietary Chinese medicine, and other supplies to about 60,000 elderly residents and 10,000 staff members.

He said that over 1,800 volunteers had participated in the distribution, adding that the alliance will continue to recruit volunteers in the next phase.

Initiated by the Hong Kong Community Anti-Coronavirus Link and the Hong Kong Volunteers Federation on March 7, the Hong Kong Volunteers Against Coronavirus promised to focus on caring for the elderly, promoting vaccination among children, and providing help to frontline medical workers.

Another convener, lawmaker Chan Hoi-yan, is tasked to boost vaccination among children. Chan said that as of March 22, the group had held 123 vaccination operations, reaching about 52,000 people, of whom 31,700 were children aged below 12. The alliance plans to organize 70 more vaccination operations to vaccinate over 20,000 children as it plans, for the moment, to help in total 10 percent of local children to get COVID-19 jabs.

According to official data, currently, around 66 percent of the city's secondary school students, aged from 12 to 19, have received two doses of vaccine. Only 11 percent of children aged 3 to 11 have had two jabs as they have only been allowed to get vaccinated since January.

In order to ease the nerves of children when getting COVID-19 jabs, cartoons and toys are provided and soothing music is played at the vaccination sites. Also, they set up mobile vans to offer vaccination services for children in remote areas.

The organization's chief convener Chan Chung-bun said that the Hong Kong Volunteers Against Coronavirus has nine key projects covering different types of people who need help, including the elderly, children, healthcare workers, frontline workers, and people under home quarantine. Apart from the support for the elderly and children, they will continue to hold briefings on other projects in the next few days.

On March 22, the Hong Kong Volunteers Against Coronavirus and Hong Kong Community Anti-Coronavirus Link jointly set up a hotline to help grassroots families, the elderly living alone, and people with mobility problems. Once people have registered, volunteers will deliver anti-epidemic bags to their homes.