Swap Sinovax Jabs With Sinopharm Ones: Lo Chung-mau

A University of Hong Kong professor on Sunday urged the government to explore the possibility of replacing one mainland vaccine with another if it means the territory can launch its universal Covid-19 vaccination scheme earlier.

Professor Lo Chung-mau, the chief executive of the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital across the border, said it’s fair game at this stage to replace Sinovax with Sinopharm vaccines, given the former company has yet to produce enough data from clinical trials to allow local authorities to approve their product for emergency use.

Hong Kong had secured 7.5 million coronavirus jabs from Sinovax, with the first shipments originally scheduled to arrive by now, but the process has been delayed indefinitely given a lack of data.

Speaking on a television programme, Lo proposed that the government should change tack and proactively approach Sinopharm for more information.

Its vaccines have been approved for use in the mainland, and authorities there plan to inoculate millions of people with its product.

Mainland authorities had green-lighted the Sinopharm jab based on Phase 3 clinical trials that showed the vaccine had an efficacy rate of 79 percent.

However, that figure is based only on an interim analysis, and the state-owned firm has yet to release the full data from the trials.

Nonetheless, Professor Lo said preliminary efficacy rate is enough to warrant a closer look by the SAR government.

“It’s far more than enough in terms of efficacy. It’s a well-established technology. There are fewer side effects than that caused by the Pfizer vaccines,” he said.

“We should not just sit in Hong Kong and wait for the drug companies to approach us. We should actively look for vaccines for the sake of Hong Kong people’s health.”

He said more than 3,500 staff at his Shenzhen hospital received Sinopharm jabs last month, with only 20 developing mild side effects, such as infection-site pain, rashes and a runny nose, and none requiring treatment.

Lo stressed that the government’s top priority should be controlling the pandemic quickly, rather than honouring its promise with a drug-maker.

Hong Kong’s sole representative on the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, Tam Yiu-chung, had previously also called for the use of Sinopharm jabs here, saying he had personally gotten inoculated across the border and reported being able to sleep better afterwards.

The calls to explore the use of the Sinopharm vaccine comes as concerns grow over whether shipments of the BioNTech and AstraZeneca vaccines to Hong Kong could be delayed after the European Union imposed export controls for the jabs.

Hong Kong is expecting to start its vaccination programme late next month with jabs from the German manufacturer BioNTech. So far, it is the only vaccine with final approval for use here.

The government has said it is continuing to negotiate purchase agreements with vaccine manufacturers from around the world, and the mainland to obtain more vaccines which meet the criteria of safety, efficacy and quality.