First Covid-19 vaccines land in Hong Kong, as city confirms 13 new cases and experts back Sinovac jab for healthy older people
- Carrie Lam and her top officials to receive the city’s first doses of the Sinovac vaccine next Monday, according to sources
- Medical experts advising the government declare the jab suitable for healthy people aged over 60
The first 1 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine finally arrived in Hong Kong on Friday, while the government’s medical advisers declared the Sinovac jab suitable for healthy people aged over 60 amid concern over the potential risks for elderly recipients.
Cathay Pacific flight CX391 from Beijing touched down at Hong Kong International Airport at about 5.30pm carrying Sinovac’s CoronaVac vaccine, shortly after the city’s health authorities registered 13 new coronavirus cases.
Of the new infections – five more than Thursday’s tally – one was imported and eight were untraced. More than 10 preliminary-positive cases were awaiting confirmation.
Secretary for the Civil Service Patrick Nip Tak-kuen and Secretary for Food and Heath Professor Sophia Chan Siu-chee inspected the medical consignment at gate 3 of the airport, a location chosen for its proximity to the cargo terminal to ensure rapid offloading.
“Today is a very happy occasion where the Sinovac vaccines, a million doses, have arrived in Hong Kong,” Chan said at the airport apron.
“It’s indeed a very important milestone for all the Covid-19 prevention and control work that we have been doing.”
Appealing to the public to take part in the city’s free vaccination scheme, Nip said: “The programme will give us hope to control and end the epidemic as early as possible.”
Deputy director of Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong, Chou Hong, said the arrival of the China-made vaccines showed how much the central government cared about the city.
Along with Lam and her senior officials, Nip and Chan are set to be the first in the city to receive the Sinovac doses, with their appointments booked for 3pm on Monday. Lam’s de facto cabinet, the Executive Council, will be inoculated an hour later, with Legislative Council members receiving their jabs at 5.30pm.
Government medical advisers met on Friday to discuss the potential safety implications of immunising elderly people with the Sinovac jab.
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After a four-hour meeting, the chairman of the Scientific Committee on Vaccine Preventable Diseases, Professor Lau Yu-long, concluded after studying relevant data that healthy people aged 60 or above were better off receiving Sinovac’s vaccine than not.
“The benefits of injection are larger than not receiving it,” Lau said. “No other procedures or advice is needed if the person aged 60 or above is healthy. If they suffer from allergy or chronic disease that has not been put under control, such as high blood pressure, they could postpone the vaccination. It is up to their free will.”
The professor also noted the manufacturer did not recommend the vaccine for women who are pregnant, as he said the jab’s success depended on the speed of its delivery to the public and the scale of coverage.
Professor David Hui Chu-cheong, the chairman of the Scientific Committee on Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases, referred to the situation in Israel, where infections dropped significantly once the vast majority of people were inoculated, saying widespread inoculation of Hong Kong’s population could lead to the further relaxation of Covid-19 control measures.
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Lau said the target was to vaccinate at least 70 per cent of Hongkongers. However, he refused to say whether Sinovac or Pfizer-BioNTech offered the better product, likening the comparison to choosing between an orange and an apple.
The first batch of Pfizer-BioNTech jabs are expected to arrive later this month.
The two vaccines have faced questions as to whether they are suitable for all elderly people, who are more vulnerable to the coronavirus as well as more susceptible to possible adverse reactions to immunisation.
Government advisers on vaccines have suggested that elderly people with severe frailties – including those bedridden in care homes – or residents aged 85 or above, should be evaluated by doctors on their suitability for receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech jab.
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Under the government plan revealed on Thursday, jabs will be administered at 29 community vaccination centres across the city’s 18 districts, as well as in more than 1,500 private clinics, 18 general outpatient clinics under the Hospital Authority and at care facilities for the elderly and disabled.
Nip said he expected the major centres would be able to administer up to 2,500 shots per day.
The five groups given priority for vaccination are: health workers and others fighting the pandemic; those aged 60 and older; residents and staff of elderly and disabled care homes; people providing essential public services, such as the disciplined forces, postal staff and hygiene workers; and cross-border transport workers, including truck drivers, air and sea crew, and fishermen.
Dr Arisina Ma Chung-yee, president of the Hong Kong Public Doctors’ Association, said the vaccination should not be mandatory.
She also urged the authority to make inoculation convenient for her profession, for instance by vaccinating in workplaces to accommodate doctors’ long working hours.
Tsang Kei-nam, an executive member of the Community Care and Nursing Home Workers General Union, said care home workers should be given the “absolute right” to decide whether to be vaccinated, and should not be punished for refusing.
Meanwhile, the Education Bureau revealed only about 200 of Hong Kong’s 5,000 or so kindergartens, tutorial centres and schools intended to bring back all pupils for in-person classes from Monday. The government condition for doing so is to subject all staff to regular Covid-19 screening.
About half of the 200 were private tutorial schools, with kindergartens accounting for most of the rest. The bureau said more schools were expected to apply for the full return of pupils over the coming week.
Among Friday’s new infections was a caretaker at a Kwun Tong care home, leading to the quarantining of 52 residents and 18 other staff.
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Three workers from the catering industry – who worked in a ramen restaurant with branches in Mong Kok and Tai Hang, a McDonald’s in Central, and a Chinese restaurant in Tin Hau – were also confirmed as infected.
Another firefighter from an emerging outbreak at Kwai Chung Fire Station was logged as infected, bringing the total number of cases there to seven. An assistant editor from RTHK also tested preliminary-positive.
The total number of confirmed infections in the city now stands at 10,833, with 197 related deaths.
Despite new infections remaining at a relatively low level, a health official warned of a potential resurgence of cases due to gatherings over Lunar New Year.
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Dr Albert Au Ka-wing, the Centre for Health Protection’s principal medical and health officer, said: “There is evidence that there are still quite a number of silent transmissions in the community, coupled with a large amount of gatherings among the local population during the Chinese New Year.
“It is possible that some of the undetected cases may cause ongoing transmission in the community.”
Meanwhile, a government spokesman said 16 people from Austin Mansion in Tsim Sha Tsui were found to have violated a compulsory-testing notice, resulting in fixed fines of HK$5,000 (US$644) and the issuance of another order to get screened.
Over the past few months, the Hong Kong government has stepped up mandatory testing and implemented “ambush-style” lockdowns in a number of neighbourhoods to rein in the city’s fourth wave of infections.
Additional reporting by Chris Lau and Thomas Chan
