HONG KONG – Slowing down Chinese territory’s already sluggish inoculation drive, Hong Kong authorities halted the use of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech as a precaution due to defective packaging
The suspension comes as the Asian financial hub has faced a slow take-up of vaccines due to dwindling confidence in China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd vaccine and fears of adverse reactions.
Vaccinations from the two batches of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines procured by Hong Kong had been suspended and all community vaccination centres have stopped using the vaccine until further notice, the government said.
“For sake of caution the vaccination must be suspended immediately during the investigation period,” the city government said in a statement, referring to the Pfizer/BioNTech shot. the statement also said, “BioNTech and Fosun Pharma have not found any reason to believe that product safety is at risk.”
The city said in a statement on Tuesday that it had received notice from Fosun Industrial (Hong Kong), the distributor of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in Hong Kong and Macau, that packaging defects had been found in a vaccine batch related to the closure of bottles.