The Secretary for Health has declared separately the invalidation of all COVID-19 vaccination medical exemption certificates issued by seven registered medical practitioners with effect from November 9.

By that time, all exemption certificates previously issued by the medical practitioners concerned can no longer be used for meeting the Vaccine Pass requirements.

The Government today announced that the Secretary for Health made the invalidation declarations pursuant to the amended Prevention & Control of Disease (Vaccine Pass) Regulation.

Before making the decision, the Secretary for Health had had regard to all relevant factors in accordance with the above-mentioned regulation, including the possible adverse consequences of the integrity and robustness of the regime of the Vaccine Pass system being compromised.

Other factors included the presence of reasonable grounds for suspecting that the relevant registered medical practitioner had issued any exemption certificate without conducting a clinical assessment, the number of exemption certificates issued by the relevant practitioner within a particular span of time as well as the pattern and mode of such issuance.

Having regard to the above factors, on the basis of the information and records available, the Secretary for Health considers that it is in the public interest that all exemption certificates issued by the seven registered medical practitioners concerned cease to be valid for the purposes of the Vaccine Pass system.

The Government also emphasised that the Vaccine Pass aims to protect individuals who have not yet completed the COVID-19 vaccination course, reduce the risks borne when they enter high-risk premises and at the same time, avoid placing an unnecessary burden on the public healthcare system.

The seven practitioners concerned can make written representations to the Secretary for Health on or before November 1 as to why the group invalidation declarations should not be made.