A pharmacist holds up a vial of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, Bivalent, at AltaMed Medical clinic in Los Angeles, California, on October 6, 2022. (PHOTO / AFP)
Hong Kong has given the green light for the use of Moderna Inc’s bivalent COVID-19 vaccine in the city.
At present, two drug manufacturers — Fosun Pharma and Sinovac — have obtained approval from the Hong Kong government to supply three types of COVID vaccines to Hong Kong's private market
The company said on Wednesday the approval by the special administration region’s Department of Health offers the public an additional mRNA COVID-19 vaccine option, strengthening protection against the mainstream Omicron variant virus. It said the bivalent vaccine will be available in the SAR as soon as possible.
Bivalent COVID-19 vaccines have a formulation of two virus strains — the original virus and Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5.
At present, two drug manufacturers — Fosun Pharma and Sinovac Biotech— have obtained approval from the Hong Kong SAR government to supply three types of COVID vaccines to Hong Kong's private market.
The Comirnaty bivalent vaccine was the first such vaccine to be approved for use in Hong Kong. It was introduced to the SAR in December last year for use by eligible residents aged 12 or above. About 530,000 Hong Kong residents had received the bivalent vaccine as of May 3 this year.
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So far, about 85.4 percent of Hong Kong people, aged 12 or above, have received three COVID-19 jabs, with 1.13 million and 87,319 others having received their fourth and fifth doses, respectively.
Also on Wednesday, Sinovac, a leading provider of biopharmaceutical products in China, announced that it will provide the first batch of inactivated COVID-19 vaccine CoronaVac to Hong Kong’s private market this month.
Additionally, the company plans to partner with local charitable organizations to donate thousands of COVID vaccine booster shots for Hong Kong children aged three to 12 to increase their immunity against the virus.
Yang Guang, chief business officer of Sinovac Biotech, said the inactivated vaccine targets the original strain of COVID-19 virus. The vaccine has been confirmed safe, with an effectiveness rate of over 95 percent, she said.
The company is expected to supply thousands of vaccines during the first stage. That number is expected to increase progressively during the year if sales are satisfactory.
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Cheryl Law, international business development director (Asia Pacific) of Sinovac, said that vaccines for the private market will be set at affordable prices, adding that the company will consider providing bivalent vaccines to the market if its new research plans get approval.
After the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government changed its vaccination policy, low-priority groups, including most children, have had to pay for vaccine boosters themselves since April 20.
The number of new cases of COVID infections and seasonal influenza in Hong Kong has been rising in recent days. The Hospital Authority said Wednesday that on average, over 6,000 people visited hospitals’ emergency departments every day.
