When Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam rolled up her shirt sleeve last month to get the Asian financial hub’s first Covid-19 vaccination, she gave a noisy approval of the shots from mainland China Sinovac Biotech Ltd.
“Today we take the Sinovac vaccine, which was developed and manufactured on the mainland, as this is the first vaccine to arrive in Hong Kong,” Lam said Feb. 22 when she was vaccinated in a public ceremony with her best aides.
Since then, confidence in both Sinovac and her government’s vaccination drive has plummeted. Seven deaths and dozens of side effects were reported after the first 160,000 doses of the shot, and residents began volunteering throngs for the vaccine made by BioNTech SE and Pfizer Inc. – the only other available.
Carrie Lam receives a dose from Sinovac Biotech Ltd. on February 22. Covid-19 vaccine.
Photographer: Lam Yik / Bloomberg
While official investigation found no link between the deaths and Sinovac, and one fatality was also reported after a resident ingested the BioNTech vaccine, the hysteria came on top of the public’s growing distrust of Hong Kong authorities over the past two years as Beijing moved to restrict free speech and imprison democracy advocates. Even before the latest crisis, only 37% of adults in the city said they would take a Covid-19 vaccine, according to a survey of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Now Lam and other officials are pleading with the public to take vaccines before they expire, while also extending suitability to healthy adults deprecated 30 to 59. Low vaccination coverage, which lags behind Singapore, threatens to delay Hong Kong’s reopening compared to other major cities, harming an economy already hit by the double-hit pandemic and pro-democracy protests in 2019.
‘Negative impression’
“The recent deaths related to Sinovac have left a negative impression of vaccines, even if the government says they are not related,” said Kenneth Ip, a 43-year-old property manager in Hong Kong who said he did not need to be vaccinated. “If they made it mandatory, I would choose BioNTech, not Sinovac.”
Hong Kong’s skepticism underscores public hesitation about vaccines facing governments around the world, including the future of the shot created by AstraZeneca Plc following reports of severe blood clotting in a small number of people in Europe.
The Asian financial center has so far administered doses equivalent to 2% of the population, compared to 6.9% for Singapore and 54% in Israel, which is the world leader in vaccinations, according to Bloomberg. vaccine tracker. Authorities have moved twice to expand the vaccine eligibility group after only a small percentage of those in priority groups chose to be stabbed.
In a weekly briefing on Tuesday, Lam said the city would consider expanding its vaccination option to anyone over the age of 16 as soon as doses come in again. She also said she would explore more incentives to boost vaccination, including whether it would be possible to reduce the mandatory 21-day quarantine for residents returning to the territory.
“I will investigate this issue personally,” she told reporters.
Hong Kong vaccine no-show rate higher after adverse event reports
Liu Peicheng, a Sinovac spokesman, said the number of deaths initially reported in Hong Kong after the first round of vaccination was “unexpectedly high.” While he understands concerns among residents, Liu stressed that the deaths were unrelated to the vaccine, adding that a media frenzy exacerbated the situation.
“Once confidence is shattered, it is indeed very difficult to overthrow it,” said Liu, adding that Sinovac has faced more setbacks in Hong Kong than anywhere else in the world. He said 70 million doses of Sinovac have been given around the world, nearly a third of which goes to people aged 60 and over, and the adverse event rate is equally low across all age groups.
Sinovac said late Monday it would be able to produce 2 billion Covid-19 vaccine doses this year.
Hong Kong’s own analysis shows the efficacy of Sinovac at only about 62% after a second dose, compared to 97% for BioNTech. And while BioNTech was later available in Hong Kong than Sinovac, it is now getting used to it faster.
Growing slit
Despite a delayed start, BioNTech vaccinations exceed those of Sinovac
The percentage of people not showing up for appointments with Sinovac has hovered around 20% for the past seven days, according to government data, compared to an average of less than 7% for BioNTech. As of Friday, an average of 15,000 people a day have received a dose of BioNTech, the data shows, while the number of residents receiving Sinovac at the time averaged about 10,700.
Lam Ching-choi, a physician and adviser to Carrie Lam, said it was “in hindsight” that the government’s early deployment of Sinovac and the much-discussed but unrelated deaths prevented people from getting vaccinated. However, he added that the administration’s experts said Sinovac was safe and could be used in the elderly.
Hong Kong Minister of Food and Health Sophia Chan and Minister of Civil Service Patrick Nip will receive their second dose of Sinovac Biotech Ltd. on March 22. Covid-19 vaccine.
Photographer: Ivan Abreu / Bloomberg
“Every measure, be it epidemic control or rolling out the vaccination program, they are all calibrated and guided by the science and the experts,” he said. “But unfortunately these are sometimes not perceived as positive by the general public.”
Hong Kong vaccine bookings jump into the first day of extended access
In addition to the deaths at the start of the rollout, a lack of data from Sinovac on the effects of the shots on the elderly has led to the public’s reluctance to get vaccinated. In its emergency approval for Sinovac, Hong Kong’s expert committee noted there was “insufficient data on efficacy in humans deprecated 60 and above. “
In a statement last week, the government said the committee of experts had recommended Sinovac because the benefit “generally outweighs the risk of not using vaccines” in people 60 years of age and older. It accused critics of trying to ‘smear’ Sinovac’s vaccine.
“I’m not sure why there is so much enthusiasm for Sinovac” in the Hong Kong government, said Benjamin Cowling, a professor and chief of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Hong Kong. “It’s not as effective as a vaccine, and there’s not much evidence of its effectiveness in older adults over 60.”
Vaccine Hesitation
Show-up rate for those who booked Sinovac trails behind BioNTech
Source: Statements by the Hong Kong Government
Carrie Lam herself has criticized the slow recording, and said last week that the government will look into room for relaxation of social distance measures for vaccinated people. Beijing earlier this month visa facilitation for people receiving Chinese-made vaccines.
But Hong Kong’s pro-democracy opposition blames the government for using public health issues for political purposes, including citing the pandemic for delaying elections to the Legislative Council by a year. Beijing overhauled its electoral system earlier this month to ensure that the Communist Party has a right of veto over all candidates.
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Ramon Yuen, a district councilor of the Opposition Democratic Party, said Carrie Lam only got the Sinovac shot to show her “loyalty” to China and should have been more careful about rolling out vaccines to the elderly.
“It has damaged people’s confidence in the system,” said Yuen. “Many people say the government has its own agenda, and this will affect the effectiveness of public health policies.”
– With the help of Chloe Lo
Updates with Carrie Lam’s weekly briefing starting from the ninth paragraph.