Hong Kong and Macau have temporarily discontinued the Covid vaccines manufactured by BioNTech SE due to a packaging flaw, which dealt a blow to the cities’ efforts to revive their pandemic-torn economies.
Both governments said on Wednesday that they have received reports of defects in the packaging of vials Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co., which has the rights to develop and market the shots in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. BioNTech and Fosun Pharma have launched an investigation into the problem and say there is no reason to believe product safety is at risk, the Macau government statement said.
A community vaccination center administering the BioNTech Covid-19 is temporarily closed on March 24.
Photographer: Kyle Lam / Bloomberg
The suspension marks the latest setback for the introduction of vaccines in Hong Kong, which has been delayed by public mistrust in the Beijing-backed government. While the shot of the BioNTech shot started to surpass that of the shots of a Chinese company Sinovac Biotech Ltd., concerns about the packaging error, threatens to undermine public confidence in both options.
Hong Kong’s business and banking community has urged the city to relax some of the world’s strictest coronavirus control measures, but the government is reluctant to do so until vaccination coverage rises. As of Monday, about 5% of the residents of the financial center had received their first vaccination shots.
Macau casinos led to falls in the MSCI Hong Kong Index on Wednesday, with Wynn Macau Ltd. and Sands China Ltd. sinking by more than 4%. Hong Kong real estate developers, one of the stocks most sensitive to the local economy, also collapsed.
Residents have been enrolling in the BioNTech footage since Hong Kong broadened adult suitability deprecated 30-59 earlier this month, an effort to increase vaccination coverage to levels necessary to fully reopen the economy.
Wednesday morning there was confusion at some vaccination sites in the city. At the Ap Lei Chau Sports Center, staffers told people waiting in line that the day’s recordings would be suspended. They then reopened the center to close it again in about an hour. By then, many people with the earliest appointments had already been stabbed.
Outside the vaccination center, confused residents – some of whom had just gotten their shot – asked staffers what was going on, but were replied that the reason for the suspension was unclear.
– With the help of Young-Sam Cho and Natalie Lung