Coronavirus: Hong Kong vetting BioNTech application for approval of next-generation booster jab targeting Omicron variants

Health officials received application from German company for approval of booster shot against BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron strains, government confirms

But government vaccine adviser argues that it would be a waste of resources to procure jabs when current shots are effective

Reading Time:3 minutes

The BioNTech vaccine currently available in Hong Kong is still effective, experts note. Photo: Edmond So

Published: 10:56pm, 9 Oct 2022Updated: 11:13pm, 9 Oct 2022

Hong Kong health officials have confirmed they are vetting an application from BioNTech for approval of its second-generation Covid-19 booster jab targeting the Omicron variant, but a government vaccine adviser has said it would be a waste of resources to procure it when current shots are effective.

A government spokesman on Sunday said officials had received an application from the German company for use of a bivalent booster dose against the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron strains in Hong Kong, which would be submitted to the Advisory Panel on Covid-19 Vaccines for review after all relevant information had been received.

The spokesman said there was “no definite timetable at present” as to when the vaccines could be available in the city.

Residents should receive three vaccine doses and the elderly four, a medical expert says Photo: dpa

But advisory panel member Professor Lau Yu-lung, who also chairs the Scientific Committee on Vaccine Preventable Diseases, expressed surprise at the news, saying he had not received relevant information yet.

“I just heard about it in the media and I’m just as surprised as everyone else,” Lau told the Post.

Lau also said he believed it would be a waste of resources and untimely for the government to procure the bivalent shots, as there was enough data on the vaccines currently available in the city to prove they could prevent serious illness and death.