HONG KONG (AP) – Hong Kong suspended use of the Pfizer vaccine on Wednesday after its Chinese distributor informed the city that one group had defective bottle lids.
The city government said the suspension was immediate while the case was being investigated by distributor Fosun Pharma and BioNTech, the German company that created the vaccine with US pharmaceutical firm Pfizer.
According to the statement, BioNTech and Fosun Pharma found no reason to believe that the product was unsafe. However, vaccinations will be discontinued as a preventative and safety measure.
The defective lids were found on vaccines from batch number 210102. A separate group of vaccines, 210104, will also not be administered.
Macao also said on Wednesday that residents would not receive the Pfizer vaccinations from the group in question.
BioNTech and Fosun Pharma could not be immediately reached for comment.
All Hong Kong community centers administering the Pfizer vaccine have temporarily suspended vaccinations and residents who have already made appointments for Wednesday do not have to go to the centers, the government said.
The suspension of the Pfizer injection point means that the only vaccine currently being offered to residents is the Sinovac vaccine in China. The only vaccines are the only ones offered to Hong Kong residents.
German expatriate Jannis Partsafas was among a group of people who received the Pfizer shot before the suspension.
“I was vaccinated at 08:30 this morning before the news of the vaccine became known, and I heard the news on my way home,” said the 32-year-old Partsafas, who works in the sports industry.
“I’m not very concerned about safety, but I’m worried that it could mean that more people will have the option of getting vaccinated in Hong Kong, which will affect the immunity of the herd and the lifting of social distance measures,” he said. he said.
Some residents who had appointments on Wednesday morning stood in line outside the community center at about 10.30am and administered the Pfizer vaccinations in the city of Sai Ying Pun. They eventually left the center when it became apparent that no vaccines would be administered.
As of Tuesday 20:00, 403,000 people had been vaccinated in the city, of which 150,200 received the first dose of Pfizer vaccine, compared to 252,800 who took the Sinovac jab.
–
This story has been corrected to indicate that the defective journal is 210102.