Hong Kong to roll out mass coronavirus vaccinations in February, minister says, as city records 35 new Covid-19 cases
- Government medical adviser says Sinovac and AstraZeneca shots will be offered in clinics, while Pfizer ones will be administered at community halls
- First 1 million doses will go to health care workers and people in high-risk groups, source reveals
Secretary for the Civil Service Patrick Nip Tak-kuen said in a Facebook post on Saturday that the government aimed to wrap up preparatory work on the vaccination campaign by the end of this month and launch it in February.
The first million doses for 500,000 people would go to health care workers, carers in homes for the elderly and people with disabilities, and residents aged 85 years or above, in line with the prioritisation of high-risk groups in vaccination programmes rolled out in nations such as Britain and the United States, according to a government source.
The insider said the first shots to be used would be whichever of the three brands the government ordered arrived first.
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Professor David Hui Shu-cheong, a Chinese University respiratory medicine expert who advises the government on the pandemic, revealed that officials planned to conduct inoculations with the Sinovac and AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccines at Department of Health and Hospital Authority clinics, as those vaccines could be stored at temperatures of between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius. Private practitioners could also be roped in to help with giving the shots.