Hong Kong on Wednesday suspended use of the Pfizer-BioNTech
vaccine after packaging defects ranging from cracked containers to loose caps
were discovered in one batch of doses, in a major blow to a city already
struggling in its campaign to inoculate its 7 million residents against
COVID-19.
اضافة اعلان
Health officials called the halt a precaution, saying that
none of the defective vials had been administered to patients and that they had
found no health risks. But if the suspension persists, the Chinese territory
may not have enough shots to protect its population while the coronavirus
continues to spread. Hong Kong officials were counting on 7.5 million doses of
the vaccine, developed by Pfizer of the United States and BioNTech of Germany,
to help fill their needs.
The discovery has also unleashed a hunt for the origin of
the defects, as well as questions about whether more might be out there. The
doses were manufactured at BioNTech’s facilities in Germany, while a Chinese
company called Fosun Pharma was in charge of transporting, storing and
distributing the shots in Hong Kong.
In a statement Wednesday, BioNTech said the batch in
question had been sent only to Hong Kong and Macao, another Chinese territory
nearby. The company said it was investigating the source of the problem.
“At this point, we have no reason to believe there is any
safety risk posed to the population,” BioNTech said.
Fosun Pharma said that BioNTech had detected problems with
the lids within a batch of vaccines shipped to Hong Kong and Macao, where the
authorities have also suspended administering the vaccine.
Already, Hong Kong’s inoculation drive has been plagued with
public doubts. Vaccination bookings had fallen after reports that several
people had died after receiving the other vaccine Hong Kong is using, which is
made by Sinovac, a Beijing company. Residents scrambled to book appointments
for the BioNTech vaccine, which had roughly double the number of bookings as
Sinovac over the past six days, according to official data.
The Hong Kong government has found no direct link between
the shots and the deaths. But some people don’t trust the government after
mainland Chinese officials tightened their control over the former British
colony following anti-government protests in 2019.
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