The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government announced today (November 19) that it has purchased 1 million extra doses of the Comirnaty vaccine for the implementation of third dose COVID-19 vaccination. Together with the 7.5 million doses that have arrived earlier, 8.5 million doses of the Comirnaty vaccine have been purchased in total. The new batch of the vaccine, manufactured by BioNTech and filled and finished at a plant in Baxter of Germany, arrived in Hong Kong this morning as arranged by Fosun Pharma.
      
     Soon after the arrival of the latest batch of the Comirnaty vaccine in Hong Kong today, staff carried out stringent checking and inspection of the vaccine in accordance with established procedures to ensure that it complies with the product specifications and that the transportation process follows the relevant cold-chain requirements. The Government will put the vaccine in validated ultra-low temperature freezers to ensure its proper storage in accordance with the temperature specified by the drug manufacturer. The labels of these vaccine vials contain English and simplified Chinese. The vaccine concerned was manufactured by the same manufacturer and filled and finished at the same plant with the same specifications in Germany.

     "The purchase of 1 million extra doses of the Comirnaty vaccine is for the gradual implementation of third dose COVID-19 vaccination. We appeal to members of the public who have not received the first and second doses of vaccination to do so early so as to protect themselves, their family members and the community. In addition, more persons will be eligible to receive the third dose of a vaccine later with their second dose received for more than six months. If we have to cater for third dose vaccination and those who delayed their first and second doses at the same time, it might be possible that both vaccination appointments and vaccines will be in tight supply," a spokesman for the Government said.

     The Government announced on November 3 that eligible persons under certain groups can receive a third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine free of charge starting from November 11.
       
     Details of the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme can be found at the designated website (www.covidvaccine.gov.hk).

Ends/Friday, November 19, 2021
Issued at HKT 13:10

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