Hong Kong gets Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines as 2nd option
Boxes of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccines is unloaded from a Cathay Pacific cargo plane at the Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong, Saturday, Feb. 27, 2021. (Jerome Favre/Pool Photo via AP)
HONG KONG: More than 500,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived in Hong Kong on Saturday (Feb 27) following a two-day delay due to export procedures, offering a second inoculation option for the city.
The Pfizer-BioNTech shots will be offered to about 2.4 million eligible residents from priority groups such as those aged 60 and above and health care workers.
The 585,000 doses of the vaccine — the first batch of the initial 1 million — arrived from Germany. The remaining doses will be delivered in early March, according to a government statement.
About 70,000 residents who have registered for Hong Kong’s vaccination programme, which kicked off on Friday, will receive the shots developed by Chinese biopharmaceutical firm Sinovac. The Sinovac vaccines were the first to arrive last week.
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About 6,000 people have already been injected with the Sinovac vaccine. Registration details for those wishing to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech shots have not been announced.
Hong Kong has struck deals for a total of 22.5 million doses, with 7.5 million each from Sinovac, AstraZeneca and Fosun Pharma, which is delivering the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines. The government has so far approved the Sinovac and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines.
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