On March 24, a community vaccination center administered by BioNTech Covid-19 is temporarily closed.
Photographer: Kyle Lam / Bloomberg
Photographer: Kyle Lam / Bloomberg
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Hong Kong and Macao temporarily suspended Covid vaccines manufactured by BioNTech SE due to a packaging defect, which was a blow to cities ’efforts to revive their pandemic economies.
The two governments said Wednesday they received notifications about defects in the packaging of the jars Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co., which has the rights to develop and market the photos in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. According to the Macau government statement, BioNTech and Fosun Pharma have launched an investigation into the matter and say there is no reason to believe the safety of the products is at risk.
The suspension is the latest setback for vaccine deployment in Hong Kong, which has been hampered by public distrust of the Beijing-backed government. While BioNTech’s spike dam had begun to outpace that of the Chinese firm’s dams Sinovac Biotech Ltd., is concerned about the packaging defect the risk of eroding public confidence in both options.
The Hong Kong business and banking community has been pushing for the city to relax some of the world’s strictest coronavirus containment measures, but the government has been hesitant to do so until vaccination rates rise. As of Monday, approximately 5% of financial center residents had received the first vaccines.
Macau casinos fell on the MSCI Hong Kong index on Wednesday, with Wynn Macau Ltd. and Sands China Ltd., which fell more than 4%. Hong Kong real estate developers, among the most sensitive stocks in the local economy, also fell.
Residents have massively enrolled in BioNTech features since Hong Kong expanded adult eligibility aged 30-59 earlier this month, an effort to raise vaccination rates to the levels needed to completely reopen the economy.
Wednesday morning confusion reigned in some vaccination sites in the city. At the Ap Lei Chau Sports Center, employees first told people waiting in line that the day’s shots would be suspended. They then reopened the center to close it again in about an hour. By that time, many people with the first dates had already been rehearsed.
Outside the vaccination center, confused residents (some of whom had just been shot) asked staff about what was going on, only to get answers that did not explain the reason for the suspension.
– With the assistance of Young-Sam Cho and Natalie Lung