A trolley carrying the Fosun Pharma-BioNTech coronavirus vaccines is transported to a warehouse after being unloaded from a Cathay Pacific cargo plane at the Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong, Feb 27, 2021. (PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

HONG KONG - The first shipment of 585,000 doses of Fosun Pharma-BioNTech vaccine arrived in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region from Germany at around 10 am on Saturday.

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The city's Secretary for the Civil Service Patrick Nip Tak-keun and Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee went to the airport to inspect the vaccine's arrival.

The government will now open online registrations for the BioNTech vaccine injection starting next week, with additional details to be announced soon, a government spokesman said

After the arrival of the vaccine, government staff carried out stringent checking and inspection of the vaccine to ensure that it complies with the product specifications and that the transportation process follows the relevant cold-chain requirements, a spokesman for the Hong Kong government said in a statement.

As the vaccine has to be stored in a freezer at a temperature of -70 degrees centigrade, the HKSAR government has made appropriate arrangements, including placing the vaccines in designated storage facility and keeping all the vaccines in validated freezers to ensure the proper storage condition of the vaccines in accordance with the temperature indicated by the drug manufacturer.

The government will now open online registrations for the BioNTech vaccine injection starting next week, with additional details to be announced soon, the spokesman said.

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The vaccine will be administered at community vaccination centers as it "has stringent requirements for cold chain management and requires proper thawing procedures," the spokesman said.

Hong Kong Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee (fourth left) and Secretary for the Civil Service Patrick Nip Tak-kuen (fourth right), along with Cathay Pacific and Fosun Pharma Co representatives, gesture after the delivery of Fosun Pharma-BioNTech coronavirus vaccines at the Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong, Feb 27, 2021. (PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

The arrival of the BioNTech vaccines came one day after the financial hub rolled out its mass vaccination campaign using the Sinovac vaccine. Around 6,000 people were inoculated at five community centers and 18 general outpatient clinics across Hong Kong on Friday.

The Hong Kong government has procured a total of 22.5 million doses of vaccines, with 7.5 million shots each from Sinovac, AstraZeneca and BioNTech. The first batch of 1 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine arrived in the city from Beijing on Feb 19. 

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The government said the remaining doses of the first batch of 1 million Fosun Pharma-BioNTech vaccines will arrive in the city in early March.