Not Time To Offer Third Covid Jab: Experts

Health experts on Wednesday said it is too early to decide whether to offer a third dose of the Covid vaccine to people who've already received both their shots, as only about 40 percent of citizens have had even a first jab.

Speaking at a press conference, Lau Yu-lung, who chairs a scientific committee of the Centre for Health Protection (CHP), said members will revisit the matter when more data becomes available in a few months’ time.

"Why talk about eating the third biscuit when you haven't had your first and second?" he asked.

He also questioned if it made sense for Hong Kong people to be getting booster shots when some less-developed countries still have no access to the first dose of coronavirus vaccine.

Meanwhile, the CHP's controller Ronald Lam urged people to get flu jabs when they are available in October, saying studies have shown that a "double infection" of both Covid and flu viruses could result in a much higher death rate.

But David Hui, who heads another CHP committee, said findings of an overseas study suggest that people wait at least two weeks between getting doses of Covid and flu vaccines.

"You can imagine when you have two [types of] vaccines at the same time. Naturally you'll have more side effects, like fever, fatigue, et cetera... and the same study also has shown that co-administration of the two vaccines might reduce the antibodies level of the Novavax Covid-19 vaccine." he said.