When Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam rolled up her shirt sleeve to get the first vaccination against Covid-19 from the Asian financial center last month, she strongly endorsed the doses produced by the mainland Chinese company Sinovac Biotech Ltd.
“We are now taking the Sinovac vaccine, which was developed and manufactured on the continent, because it is the first vaccine to arrive in Hong Kong,” said Lam she said on February 22 as she was vaccinated at a public ceremony with her top advisers.
Since then, confidence in Sinovac and the government’s vaccination campaign has plummeted. Seven deaths and dozens of adverse reactions were reported after the first 160,000 doses of the injection, and residents began enrolling in the crowds for the vaccine made by BioNTech SE and Pfizer Inc. – the only other one available.
Carrie Lam receives a dose of the Sinovac Biotech Ltd. Covid-19 vaccine on February 22.
Photographer: Lam Yik / Bloomberg
While official investigations revealed no connection between the deaths and Sinovac, and a fatality was also reported after a resident took the BioNTech vaccine, the hysteria came at the top of the growing public distrust of Hong Kong officials over the past two years as Beijing moved to restrict freedom of expression and arrest the defenders of democracy. Even before the last crisis, only 37% of adults in the city said they would get the Covid-19 vaccine, according to one research at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Now Lam and other officials are begging the public to get vaccines before they expire, while also expanding eligibility for healthy adults. aged 30 to 59. The low vaccination rate, which follows that of Singapore, threatens to delay the reopening of Hong Kong compared to other major cities, hurting an economy already hit by the pandemic double blow and pro-democracy protests in 2019.
‘Negative Impression’
“The recent cases of death related to Sinovac have created a negative impression of vaccines, even though the government says they are not related,” said Kenneth Ip, a 43-year-old property manager in Hong Kong who said he did not want to be vaccinated. “If they make it mandatory, I will choose BioNTech, not Sinovac.”
Skepticism in Hong Kong underscores public hesitation about vaccines faced by governments around the world, including the future of the shot made by AstraZeneca Plc after 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 its population, compared to 6.9% in Singapore and 54% in Israel, which leads the world in inoculations, according to Bloomberg’s vaccine tracker. The authorities moved twice to expand the group eligible for vaccines after only a small percentage of people in priority groups chose to be beaten.
At a weekly briefing on Tuesday, Lam said the city would consider expanding the vaccine’s eligibility to anyone over 16 when more doses arrived. She also said she would look at further incentives to increase vaccination, including whether it would be possible to reduce the mandatory 21-day quarantine for residents returning to the territory.
“I will personally look into this matter,” she told reporters.
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Liu Peicheng, a spokesman for Sinovac, said the number of deaths initially reported in Hong Kong after the first round of vaccinations was “unexpectedly high”. Although he understands the concerns among residents, Liu stressed that the deaths are not related to the vaccine, adding that the media frenzy has exacerbated the situation.
“Once confidence is undermined, it is really very difficult to change,” said Liu, adding that Sinovac had more resistance in Hong Kong than anywhere else in the world. He said that 70 million doses of Sinovac were administered worldwide, with almost a third of them going to people aged 60 and over, and the rate of adverse events is equally low across all age groups.
Sinovac said on Monday it would be able to produce 2 billion doses of the Covid-19 vaccine this year.
Hong Kong itself the analysis shows the effectiveness of Sinovac in only about 62% after a second dose, compared to 97% for BioNTech. And although BioNTech was available in Hong Kong after Sinovac, it is now being used at a faster rate.
Widening Gap
Despite a delayed start, the inoculations of BioNTech surpass those of Sinovac
The percentage of people who did not attend consultations with Sinovac has fluctuated around 20% in the last seven days, according to government data, compared to an average of less than 7% for BioNTech. Since Friday, an average of 15,000 people a day have received a BioNTech dose, the data show, while the number of residents who have received Sinovac during that period has averaged 10,700.
Lam Ching-choi, doctor and adviser to Carrie Lam, said that “in retrospect” it was possible that the government implanted Sinovac and the highly publicized, but not linked, deaths deterred people from being vaccinated. However, he added, government experts said Sinovac is safe and can be used on the elderly.
Hong Kong Food and Health Secretary Sophia Chan and Public Service Secretary Patrick Nip receive their second dose of the Sinovac Biotech Ltd. Covid-19 vaccine on March 22.
Photographer: Ivan Abreu / Bloomberg
“All measures, whether controlling the epidemic or implementing the vaccination program, are calibrated and guided by science and experts,” he said. “But, unfortunately, sometimes this may not be perceived as positive by the general public.”
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In addition to the deaths at the start of implantation, the lack of data from Sinovac on how vaccines affect the elderly fueled the public’s reluctance to get vaccinated. In its emergency approval for Sinovac, the Hong Kong expert committee noticed there were “insufficient data on efficacy in people aged 60 and above. “
On a In a statement last week, the government said the committee of experts recommended Sinovac because the benefit “generally exceeds the risk of not using vaccines” in people aged 60 and over. He accused critics of trying to “stain” the Sinovac vaccine.
“I don’t know why there is so much enthusiasm for Sinovac” in the Hong Kong government, said Benjamin Cowling, professor and head of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Hong Kong. “It is not as effective a vaccine and there is not much evidence of its effectiveness in the elderly over 60 years.”
Vaccine hesitation
Presentation fee for those who booked Sinovac trails behind BioNTech
Source: Hong Kong government statements
Carrie Lam herself has criticized the slow acceptance, and said last week that the government will explore whether there is room for measures of social distance to be relaxed for vaccinated people. Beijing earlier this month facilitated the visa process for people who received vaccines made in China.
But the Hong Kong 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 earlier this month overhauled the electoral system to ensure that the Communist Party has a veto over any candidates.
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Ramon Yuen, a district councilor for the opposition Democratic Party, said that Carrie Lam only took Sinovac’s photo to show his “loyalty” to China and should have been more cautious in launching vaccines for the elderly.
“It undermined people’s confidence in the system,” said Yuen. “A lot of people are saying that the government has its own agenda and that will impact the effectiveness of public health policy.”
– With the help of Chloe Lo
(Updates with Carrie Lam’s weekly 9th paragraph briefing.)