Coronavirus: Hong Kong researchers give third jab to fully inoculated Sinovac recipients with low antibody levels to test for immune boost
- Project explores need for wider population to get another vaccine shot, will run for three years, with participants regularly monitored for antibody levels
- Move comes as officials and scientists manage to trace origin of airline worker’s recent infection to six transit flight passengers arriving from Britain
Hong Kong researchers have started giving Covid-19 booster shots to fully inoculated Sinovac vaccine recipients who have low antibody levels in the hope of shedding light on the need for the wider population to get a third jab.
The project, the first results from which are expected to be published in October, was revealed by a government pandemic adviser on Thursday. The news came as officials and scientists achieved a breakthrough in tracing the origin of a recent infection in an airline worker that broke the city’s nearly two-week run of zero local cases.
They have narrowed down the source of the VIP lounge worker’s case, which involved the Delta variant, to six transit flight passengers who arrived from Britain.
Health authorities also confirmed five new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, all imported, taking the local infection count to 12,047, with 212 related deaths. They involved arrivals from Pakistan, Germany, Malaysia, Turkey and Bangladesh, with four of them having been fully vaccinated.
In an interview with the Post, Professor David Hui Shu-cheong, a respiratory medicine expert at Chinese University (CUHK) and a government adviser on the pandemic, revealed that a study he led had looked at 160 people double-vaccinated with the Sinovac jab, and found that half of them had low antibody levels a month after their second shot.