Marking for the vaccination program on the clothing of a staff outside a community vaccination center that administers the BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine imported by Fosun Pharma in Hong Kong, China, Wednesday, March 17, 2021.
Chan Long Hei | Bloomberg via Getty Images
Shares of Chinese group Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group fell after Hong Kong and Macao announced on Wednesday that it was suspending BioNTech Covid vaccinations.
Fosun Pharma, BioNTech’s partner in the development and distribution of the Comirnaty Covid-19 vaccine in Greater China, notified cities of a packaging defect in batch 210102 of the vaccine.
Hong Kong and Macao have said they are suspending vaccinations in Germany as a precaution.
The cities said BioNTech and Fosun Pharma are investigating the cause of the bottle cap defect, adding that there is currently no reason to doubt the safety of the vaccine.
Macao said all its messenger RNA or mRNA vaccines belong to the affected group. Hong Kong has said it will temporarily suspend vaccinations in Lot 210104 until the investigation is completed.
Fosun Pharma’s Hong Kong shares were down 4.83% on Wednesday afternoon in the city.
Hong Kong approved the BioNTech vaccine for emergency use in January, while Macao granted special authorization to import the vaccine in late February. Both territories received their first batch of photos in late February.
BioNTech’s mRNA-based vaccine has 95% proven efficacy in adults, according to data from its global Phase 3 clinical trial. And real-world data showed “very strong” results from the two-dose Cfid Povizer-BioNTech vaccine, even after a single shot.
The news comes as countries around the world are struggling to vaccinate their populations in the face of Covid-raised cases in most regions.
Globally, more than 124 million infections have been reported, and the number of deaths in Covid has exceeded 2.7 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.