South China Morning Post - Government pandemic adviser warns vaccinating the population could last until next December, city only halfway through its coronavirus fight
- Health secretary Sophia Chan says entire public to be offered free vaccination next year on voluntary basis, with priority for frontline workers, the elderly
All Hong Kong residents will be offered free doses when a Covid-19 vaccine is available next year, the health minister has promised, while a top pandemic adviser to the government cautioned that it could take until the end of 2021 to get everyone inoculated.
The city confirmed 103 new infections on Wednesday in a reflection of its still-escalating fourth wave of Covid-19, as neighbouring Macau revealed that it could roll out a vaccine for emergency use as early as the end of this month, and Britain became the first country
in the world to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for widespread use.
“We will enable members of the public to be vaccinated on a voluntary basis, and propose to provide the vaccination free of charge,” Hong Kong health secretary Professor Sophia Chan Siu-chee told lawmakers.
Among the new cases, 15 of which could not be traced, were those adding to the fast-growing clusters emerging from a Tseung Kwan O construction site and a care home for intellectually disabled people in Shau Kei Wan.
“Now we are in winter which could allow the virus to survive longer. At the peak [of the epidemic], it is not surprising to see more than 120 cases a day,” said the University of Hong Kong infectious disease expert.
“We are only halfway through a marathon. By the time the vaccine is made available and all people in Hong Kong are vaccinated, it could be December next year.”
Hong Kong appeared to be behind some other jurisdictions in procurement, with Britain ready to start inoculating its population next week after approving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
A major issue facing governments is storing that vaccine at the required temperature of minus 70 degrees Celsius, beyond the means of many facilities.
But a site near Hong Kong International Airport has been identified as suitable, according to the city’s pharmaceutical sector.
Macau, with its population of about 650,000, revealed that it had secured vaccines for emergency use that could be available by the end of this month for higher-risk groups such as health care workers, according to reports.
That would be in addition to the 1.4 million doses under Macau’s general vaccination programme, which is expected to launch in the first quarter of next year.
Chan, the secretary for food and health, told lawmakers that the government had already reserved enough funding to procure Covid-19 vaccine doses sufficient for at least twice the city’s population of 7.5 million.
About 3 million people would be given priority status, she added, including health care workers, the elderly and chronic patients.
While no Covid-19 vaccine had so far been officially approved for human use in Hong Kong, pro-establishment lawmakers asked if the city might speed up the registration process for the emergency use of vaccines developed in China, if proven safe by the government there.
“They will have to be safe, efficient and effective, but we do not rule out the possibility of emergency legislation in times of need,” Chan said.
Another government adviser Professor David Hui Shu-cheong said Britain was early in acquiring Covid-19 vaccines because the country was located near the European continent, where the vaccines were produced and stored.
“Also, their epidemic situation had been severe and so they made the order very early,” he said.
The Food and Health Bureau said that apart from the safety, efficacy and quality of the vaccines, the government would also consider the development progress, the technology used and practical circumstances and limitations when procuring a vaccine.
Factors such as logistics, storage and cold chain management would be put into consideration. The bureau added the government was liaising with various vaccine developers on advance purchase agreements.
Meanwhile, with social-distancing rules toughened up this week, officials were preparing to increase the fine for people breaking the law to HK$10,000 (US$1,290), sources familiar with policymaking said.
City leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s de facto cabinet, the Executive Council, had agreed to raise the fixed penalty for violating Covid-19 rules against socialising from HK$2,000 (US$260), according to the sources, but the increase was still subject to advice from the Department of Justice.
Failure to pay the penalty would result in a maximum fine of HK$25,000 (US$3,200) and six months in prison.
Of Wednesday’s 103 cases, 82 were linked to previous ones and 15 were untraced, with six imported. About 70 preliminary-positive cases were also reported.
Another Covid-19 fatality was recorded when a 73-year-old woman arriving from Nepal died in the early afternoon in Queen Elizabeth Hospital. The Hong Kong death toll for the virus now stands at 110.
Fourteen more workers from the construction site at Lohas Park in Tseung Kwan O were confirmed infected, along with two relatives, pushing that cluster to 19 cases.
There were 39 more infections at Fong Shu Chuen Day Activity Centre and Hostel, a facility in Shau Kei Wan for intellectually disabled people. The total number of cases linked to that outbreak is 44.
Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch of the Centre for Health Protection, noted the challenge of ensuring masks were worn by those with disabilities, adding most could move freely around the facility.
A possible transmission was also reported at Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital in Happy Valley after a female patient who received kidney dialysis there last month tested initially positive for the virus.
That person was being treated at the private hospital in a bed separated by a curtain from a neighbouring male patient confirmed last week as infected.
After visiting the hospital, Yuen said transmission was most likely when the man took off his mask for 15 minutes to eat his sandwiches.
“That time is so short, but it’s enough to pass the virus to another patient,” he said.
Chuang said: “We believe a transmission might have happened on November 24. We are still in the process of understanding the matter with the hospital.”
She added the latest patient tested positive on Tuesday after returning negative readings on November 24 and 28.
Health authorities were tracing one or two other patients who also received dialysis that day, as well as staff.
United Christian Hospital in Kwun Tong and Buddhist Hospital in Lok Fu each reported that a member of staff had been infected, an occupational therapist and a nurse.
Wednesday’s untraceable cases covered those living and working in various city districts, including two with Kowloon Bay jobs and another two residing in Tai Wai.
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The “super-spreading’ dance venue cluster continued to grow with 14 more cases. The latest tally for the cluster is now 569 infections.
The city has so far confirmed a total of 6,499 infections.
To cope with the rising fourth wave of infections, the government has again tightened social-distancing rules, with public gatherings once more capped at two, restaurant dine-in hours reduced and weddings, religious gatherings and local tours again subjected to a cap on the number of people.
An extra 500 beds at the community treatment facility at the AsiaWorld-Expo would be available from Thursday in anticipation of a new patient influx.
It also emerged on Wednesday that the annual bargain fair, Hong Kong Brands and Products Expo, will be postponed indefinitely from December 12 due to the public health crisis.
