Experts urge HK should use BioNTech vaccines first

Leading microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung and three scholars wrote in the newspaper, saying that it is of great urgency to introduce citywide vaccination and members of the public should have the choice to choose which vaccines to be injected.

The SAR government has shopped three Covid-19 vaccines, Sinovac Biotech, Fosun Pharma and BioNTech and AstraZeneca and University of Oxford.

The experts compared the three vaccines, recommended theFosun Pharma and BioNTech’s vaccine as it was relatively safe and had better clinical protection. 

The Sinovac vaccines were the safest yet had a shorter protection period. Yuen emphasized that the government must wait for Sinovac's late-stage trial results, which will not be released until next month after a delay, and conduct a thorough analysis before deciding to use its vaccine. 

The government advisor also said  it is necessary to observe the AstraZeneca and University of Oxford for a longer period of time for any side effects, as two people who earlier received the jabs had developed a neurological disorder. 

However, the experts pointed out that the vaccines cannot prevent asymptomatic infections.