Covid Vaccines May Only Stop Covid Symptoms: Yuen

Government adviser Yuen Kwok-yung said on Friday that the three types of coronavirus vaccines procured by the government may not be able to help Hong Kong avoid asymptomatic infections, but he stressed there is still an urgent need for everyone to get inoculated.

The University of Hong Kong microbiologist explained that early lab tests showed the vaccines could trigger the production of neutralizing antibodies to prevent a person from developing symptoms or complications after being infected, but they could not stop a person from releasing the virus and infecting others.

Still, Yuen highlighted that efforts to help Hong Kong develop herd immunity should get underway as soon as possible.

"There is an imminent need to launch a universal innoculation programme," Yuen wrote with his research team in the Chinese-language Ming Pao newspaper.

Yuen, who is a member of the government's independent advisory panel on Covid-19 vaccines, also suggested that vaccines produced by Fosun-BioNtech and the mainland's Sinovac could be better options to be introduced in Hong Kong first.

He noted that trial results out so far for the Sinovac vaccine showed that it carries the fewest side-effects, but is expected to offer a shorter protection period.

But he stressed that the government must wait for Sinovac's late-stage trial results, which will not be released until next month after a delay, and conduct a thorough analysis before deciding to use its vaccine.

As for the vaccine developed by Fosun and BioNTech, Yuen said clinical trials showed that it is relatively safe and also offers good protection.

But he said it is necessary to observe the third option by Oxford University and AstraZeneca for a longer period of time for any side effects, noting that two people who earlier received the jabs had developed a neurological disorder.

Yuen urged the government to boost public confidence in inoculating against the coronavirus by being transparent.

"The inoculation scheme must aim to be quick, widespread, open and with choices for people to pick," he said.