The Hong Kong Health Secretary says she is confident that all her residents will be offered Covid vaccines by the end of 2021.
The city has signed agreements to get more than enough doses for its people, Hong Kong Secretary of Food and Health Sophia Chan told CNBC’s Capital Connection on Tuesday.
In response to a question about when Hong Kong could reach the herd’s immunity, Chan said authorities are still assessing the response to vaccinations as well as monitoring the delivery schedule. It did not provide a timeline for when the city could achieve herd immunity, a situation in which enough people in the population became immune to a disease so that it effectively stopped spreading.
“We are quite confident that by the end of the year … everyone in Hong Kong will be given the opportunity to get (their) vaccination,” she said.
Chan added that more than 22 million doses of Covid vaccines have already been ordered.
Hong Kong has a population of about 7.5 million and the launch of the vaccination campaign began in late February. It has signed agreements to buy vaccines from Sinovac Biotech in China, Oxford-AstraZeneca in Europe, as well as one supplied by Fosun Pharma in Shanghai and its partner, German drug manufacturer BioNTech.
Customers buy fresh vegetables from a street store in Hong Kong on March 8, 2021.
Anthony Wallace | AFP | Getty Images
Chan said people seem “quite enthusiastic” about vaccination so far, but acknowledged that it is still in stages and is not yet available to the entire population.
She also said that experts are analyzing the reasons behind the adverse events, including at least two deaths after vaccination.
“Our scientific committee initially provided information that it has nothing to do with vaccination. I mean, I can’t find any direct causation with vaccination,” she said.
Sep separately, Chan weighed in on when Hong Kong will ease its restrictions on coronavirus, saying city authorities will be “very careful” about it.
She said the situation remains “a little unstable” as unconnected cases are still reported, although new cases are low.
“We really want to contain … and cut the transmission chains in a community, because we don’t want any clusters to appear,” she said.
On Tuesday, Hong Kong reported 21 new cases, bringing the total number of infections to at least 11,121, according to the health authority there.