Coronavirus Hong Kong: booster shots can proceed without local data on side effects and efficacy, top vaccination adviser says
- WHO recommendations, real-world data from countries with booster programmes are sufficient to proceed straight to administering third doses to high-risk groups, vaccine committee chief says
- Health secretary Sophia Chan says it is only a matter of time before Hong Kong starts offering third doses
Professor Lau Yu-lung, who chairs the Centre for Health Protection’s (CHP) scientific committee on vaccine preventable diseases, backed an accelerated launch of third doses in the city after the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended giving them to people with weakened immune systems, as well as elderly recipients of two Chinese-made jabs.
Lau said on Wednesday there was no need to wait for the findings of Hong Kong studies assessing the immunity response and potential side effects of third shots because local experts were able to draw on the actual experiences of countries which had already started administering extra doses on a wide scale.
“There is real-world data from a large-scale study from Chile, together with recommendations from WHO, which is a rather conservative agency,” Lau said, indicating that was sufficient to proceed with the Hong Kong programme.
The Chilean government data released earlier this month showed that people who received two shots of the Sinovac vaccine had a higher level of protection against Covid-19 after taking a booster shot. That applied to third doses of any of the vaccines developed by Sinovac, BioNTech or AstraZeneca.
While that study involved 4.78 million people, local versions each numbered only a few hundred and antibody analysis was performed in laboratories rather than on a real-world basis, Lau said.
He added the CHP’s joint scientific committee would discuss the issues surrounding booster shots on Thursday next week.
