Long jab queues in bid to join bubble

Five of the seven community vaccination centers offering the German-made BioNTech/Fosun vaccine are seeing full or mostly full bookings in the next two weeks as long queues have snaked outside the facilities for walk-ins.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said on Tuesday authorities will expand the "no jab, no entry" vaccine bubble to restaurants and all regulated premises on February 24.

Yesterday Lam said at a press briefing on tightening Covid measures yesterday that she has agreed that the Food and Health Bureau should procure more BioNTech jabs.

She did not say how many doses of the Comirnaty vaccine - which studies suggest offer higher protection than the mainland-made Sinovac's CoronaVac - are in stock.

Hong Kong has so far procured 8.5 million BioNTech doses and 7.5 million Sinovac doses. It has not imported any since November 19.

By Tuesday, 6.26 million BioNTech doses and 3.78 million Sinovac doses had been administered, which would mean 2.24 million BioNTech jabs and 3.72 million Sinovac doses are in reserve.

From Saturday, authorities closed more community vaccination centers and only 10 remained in operation, three providing Sinovac and seven BioNTech. On the vaccine booking system yesterday, the two private hospital vaccination centers offering BioNTech - Gleneagles Hospital in Wong Chuk Hang and CUHK Medical Centre - were fully booked until January 27 and January 24, respectively.

Three other BioNTech centers - Sai Wan Ho Sports Centre, Hiu Kwong Street Sports Centre in Kwun Tong and Lai Chi Kok Sports Centre - have most of the days before January 24 in red, indicating they are fully booked. Each of them had just one to two days in yellow, showing the limited quota available, and one day in green.

The remaining two BioNTech sites - Osman Ramju Sadick Memorial Sports Centre in Kwai Fong and Yuen Long Sports Centre - are also fully booked until next Monday, but the days after are still available.

For the Sinovac centers, only Java Road Sports Centre in North Point is fully booked for the weekend.

On Tuesday, 18,013 people received their first jab, the highest in a single day since September 4.

So far, 4.93 million or 73.2 percent of the eligible population, have taken at least one jab, with 4.68 million, or 69.5 percent, receiving both jabs. Just 437,750 or 6.5 percent have received the booster.

In the age group 70 and above, almost 364,000 of 962,000, or 37.8 percent, have received at least one jab.

But the operator of a Sinovac facility in Kwun Chung Sports Centre, Jordan, said it had been administering to several times more people in the past couple of days - to around 2,400 doses a day, which was close to full capacity.

Its medical director, Samuel Kwok Po-yin, said most who went to the center were walk-ins and he called for people to make bookings online to avoid the long wait.

The operational director of the Senior Citizen Home Safety Association, Fung Chi-hang, suggested authorities set up vaccination points for both the BioNTech and Sinovac jabs in each district to facilitate inoculation, especially for the elderly.

jane.cheung@singtaonewscorp.com