Call for faith in old drugs amid Omicron fears

Oral Covid-19 medication, like the American-made drug molnupiravir that Hong Kong purchased, are still effective against the new Omicron variant despite its dramatic genetic mutations, a pharmacist said.

The Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Hong Kong president William Chui Chun-ming yesterday said oral medication stops the coronavirus from replicating by suppressing the RNA, which is unrelated to the spike proteins - where the mutations have occurred - on the surface of coronavirus.

"The first batch of MSD oral medications will be shipped to Hong Kong in the first quarter next year," he said, while authorities are also considering purchasing another oral medication from US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.

"It's still unknown when the Pfizer medication can be shipped to the SAR because it was developed later. But it is more effective in preventing hospitalization and deaths than the MSD ones," he said.

Chui also said authorities should consider buying the Sinopharm vaccine for second generation and booster jabs, as it offers more protection than Sinovac.

Around half of those who have not received the jab are waiting for second-generation vaccines with better protection, Chui said, adding that vaccines now are still effective against the Omicron variant.

Meanwhile, chairman of the Scientific Committee on Vaccine Preventable Diseases Lau Yu-lung said experts will meet at the end of this month to discuss inoculating children from three to 11 with Sinovac jabs, before the Omicron variant enters the community.

Hong Kong earlier lowered the age requirement for Sinovac jabs to three, but priority was given to those aged 12 to 17.

"I hope the government can start vaccinating younger kids and primary school students in January, because the Omicron outbreak that happened in South Africa and Europe will definitely happen in Asia in the future," he said.

Lau also said most hospitalized patients in South Africa infected with the Omicron variant were unvaccinated, showing that the existing jabs are effective in reducing serious Covid-19 illness.

University of Hong Kong infectious disease expert Ho Pak-leung yesterday said Omicron is much more infectious than Delta, and the dramatic genetic mutations in Omicron allow it to infect people who have recovered from the coronavirus.

In response to US chief medical advisor Tony Fauci's claims that Omicron may not be as dangerous as Delta, Ho said it is too early to make such a conclusion as data is still limited.

This came as an HKU team confirmed that the transmission between the first two Omicron imported cases in Hong Kong -- who lived in the Regal Airport Hotel in Chek Lap Kok -- was air-borne.

Hong Kong yesterday recorded five imported cases from Pakistan, Turkey, Korea, Russia and Finland, taking the city's tally to 12,467 cases with 213 deaths.

All five cases have been vaccinated and were found carrying the L452R mutation.

Meanwhile, three more countries -- Maldives, Senegal and Tunisia -- that detected the Omicron variant will be added to the SAR's high-risk list starting from Thursday, the government said yesterday.

Non-residents in these countries will be banned from returning to the SAR, while vaccinated Hongkongers have to be quarantined for 21 days upon arrival.