Coronavirus: defects in Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine packaging also found elsewhere in small numbers, Hong Kong experts say
- In countries such as the UK and US, there have been reports of a handful of similar cases involving defective packaging, pharmacist says
- The batch that resulted in Hong Kong pausing its BioNTech vaccination scheme was only delivered to the city and Macau, according to company spokeswoman
A BioNTech spokeswoman on Thursday said the affected batch – numbered 210102 – was only delivered to Hong Kong and Macau, and a probe had been launched into the cause of the defects.
03:27
Hong Kong suspends BioNTech Covid-19 vaccines ‘as precaution’ over defective packaging
Asked whether the company knew of any defective packaging in other batches, she said: “No other region has been supplied with doses from this batch. No other batches shipped to other regions are affected by this investigation.”
The batch was supplied by Fosun Pharma, which has the rights to distribute the German-made vaccine in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
In countries such as Britain and the United States, pharmacists had reported a handful of similar cases of defective packaging in BioNTech vaccines, but they did not halt their vaccination schemes, according to William Chui Chun-ming, president of the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Hong Kong.
“Defects have been reported in other places from time to time, although the number of cases is not as high as in Hong Kong,” he said.
Chui noted that faulty packaging, such as loose metal rings, also occurred occasionally in vials for medicines such as antibiotics.