Coronavirus: BioNTech third dose ‘not needed’ but final decision on extra shots for both Hong Kong vaccines postponed

Full assessment of suitability of third shots for Sinovac jab not possible given lack of data, Hong Kong’s low inoculation rate

Government committee advising on vaccine use delays to October its decisions on whether to recommend additional doses

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Decisions on whether Hong Kong should officially recommend third doses of a Covid-19 vaccine have been postponed. Photo: May Tse

Published: 1:58pm, 22 Jul 2021Updated: 12:39am, 23 Jul 2021

The scientific evidence points to recipients of the BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine not needing a third dose, according to the chairman of an expert committee, but decisions on whether to recommend additional shots of both jabs available in Hong Kong have been postponed.

Professor Lau Yu-lung, chairman of the Hong Kong government’s committee on vaccine preventable diseases, on Thursday said a lack of data and the city’s low inoculation rate, especially among the elderly, prevented a proper assessment of the pros and cons of administering third shots of the Sinovac jab.

He said the body, which was established under the Department of Health to provide science-based advice on vaccine use, would consider both types of jab in the round and had deferred the decisions to October.

Lau also stressed the two jabs were “similarly effective” from a personal protection perspective, and urged residents not to be alarmed by recent reports showing BioNTech’s version created 10 times more antibodies than Sinovac’s.

The developments came as authorities confirmed just one new Covid-19 case in Hong Kong on Thursday, an asymptomatic arrival from the United States who was carrying the more transmissible L452R mutant strain. The imported case pushes Hong Kong’s coronavirus tally to 11,971 infections, with 212 related fatalities.

Officials also on Thursday imposed orders for an overnight lockdown and mandatory testing covering Block 6 of Handsome Court in Tuen Mun.

A person living in the area within the past three weeks had tested preliminary-positive after arriving from Dubai and was found to carry a mutant strain of the coronavirus.