Coronavirus: expected vaccine surplus may hamper Hong Kong efforts on future supplies of Covid-19 jabs, health secretary warns

Whether Hong Kong will be able to procure enough doses in the next round of negotiations to cover the population remains unclear, Sophia Chan says

Manufacturers’ consent needed for government’s approach to unused shots, with Hong Kong affected by ‘serious vaccine hesitancy’

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Hong Kong faces being left with a large surplus of Covid-19 vaccines. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 2:40pm, 26 May 2021Updated: 2:24am, 27 May 2021

Hong Kong’s expected Covid-19 vaccine surplus because of a “serious” reluctance among most of the population to get inoculated could weaken its bargaining power to secure enough supplies when needed in the future, the health minister warned on Wednesday.

Officials said they would need drug manufacturers’ consent on what to do with unused shots due to expire within the next couple of months, while considering delaying or even cancelling scheduled vaccine deliveries, and donating surplus doses to countries in need to avoid wastage.

Secretary for Food and Health Professor Sophia Chan Siu-chee told lawmakers that drug manufacturers and the World Health Organization were likely to assess the take-up rate in Hong Kong under its ongoing inoculation programme when deciding how many doses to send to the city in the future, given persistently tight global supply.

Health secretary Sophia Chan (centre). Photo: Felix Wong

“In view of the serious vaccine hesitancy in Hong Kong, the chance of the procured vaccines being in surplus is high,” Chan said in a written reply to lawmakers.

“As such, in the next round of procurement negotiations with the drug manufacturers, we may not be able to get an outcome as desirable as that in the present round. At this stage, we do not know if we will be able to procure vaccine doses sufficient for the entire Hong Kong population in the next round of procurement.”