Hong Kong Reaches 50pc Vaccination Rate For First Jab

The government on Thursday said Hong Kong had reached a 50 percent inoculation rate for the first Covid jab, while 38 percent had had both shots.

Civil Service Secretary Patrick Nip, who's responsible for the vaccination drive, said more than 3.4 million people had now had their first dose.

On his Facebook page, he said that a 70 percent vaccination rate was now the basic goal. But he also said he hoped 90, or even 100 percent, would get inoculated, so social-distancing restrictions could be relaxed.

Daily vaccination rates have been picking up. Over 67,000 people got a jab on Thursday, that's 1,100 more than the seven-day moving average.

According to government figures, roughly 40 percent have opted for the traditional inactivated-virus Sinovac jab, and 60 percent for the BioNTech shot, which uses new mRNA technology.

An mRNA Covid vaccine produces a harmless spike protein, found on the surface of the virus, to create an immune response.

With regard to the highly-infectious delta variant of Covid, a recent Public Health England analysis, which is yet to be peer reviewed, shows BioNTech to be 88 percent effective against developing symptoms and 96 percent effective against hospitalisation