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Covid-19: Hongkongers to get Moderna bivalent booster option for protection against multiple strains of coronavirus after mid-September

  • Moderna executive says Covid-19 has not gone away and booster shots will play major role in protecting public against future variant outbreaks
  • New shot is bivalent version targeting Omicron variants as well as original virus and also offers protection against other strains

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The Moderna shot is considered suitable for anyone aged 12 or over who has received at least two doses of any Covid-19 vaccine. Photo: AFP
Sammy Heung

An Omicron-targeting Covid-19 booster vaccine produced by US pharmaceutical giant Moderna will be available in Hong Kong on a private basis just after mid-September, in time to protect people against a possible surge in infections from the next Lunar New Year celebrations.

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In an interview with the Post, Patrick Bergstedt, a senior vice-president and head of emerging markets at Moderna, on Tuesday said that even though the coronavirus pandemic had subsided he was convinced bivalent booster shots would still play an important role in safeguarding public health from the ever-changing virus.

“It’s become routine now for people to say I need to get my updated flu vaccine … I think in the future people will also get their updated Covid-19 vaccine [as a routine measure] … Because the virus that’s circulating today is not the same virus that caused the pandemic nearly two, three years ago now,” he said.

Patrick Bergstedt, Moderna’s senior vice-president and head of emerging markets, says the company’s bivalent Covid-19 vaccine will be available privately in Hong Kong from next week. Photo: Xiaomei Chen
Patrick Bergstedt, Moderna’s senior vice-president and head of emerging markets, says the company’s bivalent Covid-19 vaccine will be available privately in Hong Kong from next week. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Bergstedt added that he expected people to get the vaccine, which would be available from the week of September 18, before Lunar New Year in February to guard against the risk of increased infections similar to what emerged over the same period in 2023.

“We may no longer be in a pandemic, but even the World Health Organization says that the public health importance of continuing to be vaccinated against Covid-19 disease is still very [high],” he added.

At the start of 2021, Covid-19 vaccines based on the original virus strain made respectively by mainland China’s Sinovac and Germany’s BioNTech were rolled out in Hong Kong and fully subsidised by the government vaccination programme.

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Government figures show that about 5.85 million – 80.1 per cent – of Hongkongers aged six months or over have been vaccinated with three doses as of September 3.

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