Health minister Professor Sophia Chan Siu-chee said this week that the government had set aside funds to purchase enough vaccines for twice the city’s population of 7.5 million, and that the supplies were expected sometime next year.

She said about 3 million people would have priority to be vaccinated, including health care workers, the elderly and care home employees.

While Western countries are seen as having an advantage in the race to secure vaccines amid the worsening pandemic, China, Russia and India are also developing their own drugs aimed at preventing the coronavirus.

However, there have been concerns Hong Kong could be slow to join the queue to secure such vaccines, as drugs produced in developing countries face more regulatory hurdles on the way to being approved. China, Russia and India are not on the list of countries whose drugs enjoy a more streamlined approval process, but together account for a total of seven Covid-19 vaccine candidates among 13 currently undergoing a third phase of clinical trials.

Over the past week, city officials have said they did not rule out the possibility of “introducing legislation on an emergency basis” to allow the urgent use of vaccines. Responding to a Post inquiry, the Food and Health Bureau did not explain how emergency legislation would help.

But pharmaceutical industry experts said Hong Kong’s drug registration system already allowed for the speedy introduction of vaccines in a public health emergency.

Sabrina Chan So-kuen, senior executive director at the Hong Kong Association of the Pharmaceutical Industry, said that in an emergency, the city could introduce vaccines made in countries it does not usually import medications from, including developing ones.

“Vaccines from any place could be considered on a case-by-case basis … if there is an unmet medical need for the product in a public health emergency,” she said.

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Hong Kong is currently experiencing a fourth wave of Covid-19 infections, with a total of 6,802 confirmed cases and 112 deaths recorded as of Saturday. The weekend also saw fresh cases in clusters linked to the city’s largest-ever “super-spreader” outbreak – involving local dance venues – as well as at care homes, a construction site and a private hospital.

Untraceable infections remained high too, with 29 recorded on Saturday, after 36 were logged the previous day.

The chairman of the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation, a publicly owned technology hub in the city, was also among the latest to be infected.

While a number of governments have announced their vaccination plans, it remains uncertain what vaccines the city will use, or when they will be made available.

Hong Kong joined the Covax Facility, a vaccine distribution scheme co-led by the World Health Organization (WHO), and is also dealing directly with manufacturers to obtain supplies.

Under Department of Health guidelines, the speedier registration of pharmaceutical products in a public health emergency must meet certain criteria, including international input by reputable health agencies including the WHO and an assessment of safety and efficacy by an experienced local expert.

The approval process under normal circumstances usually takes about seven months, although the department has pledged to process no less than 90 per cent of pharmaceutical product applications within five months of receiving all documents. It said it would expedite applications for new products, including those for treating or preventing Covid-19.

Industry experts said that in urgent situations, approval could be done in a matter of weeks.

If Covid-19 vaccines were regarded as critical during a public health emergency, they said, Hong Kong could do away with requiring proof they had been registered by two or more countries on the department’s list of 32 countries, most of which are developed nations.

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Britain became the first country to authorise the wide use of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine this week, while Russia will begin mass immunisation next week using the Sputnik V vaccine developed there.

Other Western countries have been scrambling to secure Covid-19 vaccine supplies. Canada has been reported to have pre-ordered most vaccines in amounts sufficient for nearly nine doses per person.

The United States, Britain, Australia and the European Union are also reported to have pre-ordered massive supplies from major manufacturers.

William Chui Chun-ming, president of the Society of Hospital Pharmacists, said mainland vaccines could be a quick option for Hong Kong.

“If Hong Kong hopes to acquire vaccines quickly, it needs to consider those from the mainland,” he said.

No mainland-produced vaccines for other illnesses are currently used in Hong Kong, Chui said, and less than 5 per cent of medications, including antibiotics, come from there.

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Chui said he did not oppose using those vaccines if they met local requirements, but the government must make an effort to address possible concerns from the public, especially those with anti-mainland sentiments.

“The government will have to explain why vaccines were chosen and assure the public that there would be continuous monitoring,” he said.

Medical sector lawmaker Dr Pierre Chan said other factors would also affect public acceptance of a vaccine.

“All data of current Covid-19 vaccine candidates are not completely robust yet,” Chan said. “Some people might prefer to wait a bit.”

Professor David Hui Shu-cheong, a Chinese University respiratory medicine expert who advises the government on coronavirus strategies and vaccine procurement, said the 600 million doses China is rolling out this year might not be sufficient to cover Hong Kong.

“Each person will need two jabs, so that can only cover 300 million people,” he said.

Hui pointed out too, that Beijing’s pledge, which city leader Lam revealed last month, was to provide mainland-made vaccines to Hong Kong “if necessary”, or when the city could not obtain supplies elsewhere.

Additional reporting by Victor Ting