The Department of Health (DH) today (March 31) said that it is investigating and following up on an incident of 21 persons being administered with Comirnaty bivalent vaccines and Comirnaty ancestral strain vaccines after the suggested use-by date by UMP Medical Centre (Kowloon Bay).

     According to the guideline under the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme and the private clinic agreement, medical service providers under the programme should regularly check the suggested use-by date of the vaccines and handle the expired vaccines in accordance with the guideline at appropriate times.

     The DH received notification in the late afternoon yesterday (March 30) from the above medical service provider that, when checking their medical records, they found that Comirnaty vaccines which had been kept one day to 22 days after the suggested use-by date were administered on 21 persons from January 16 to 28 and from March 7 to 28. Among them, 18 were administered with Comirnaty bivalent vaccines and three were administered with Comirnaty ancestral strain vaccines. As suggested by the vaccine manufacturer (Fosun Pharma), Comirnaty bivalent vaccine and ancestral strain vaccine should be kept at 2 to 8 degree Celsius and be used within 70 days and 31 days respectively after thawing.

     The DH is highly concerned about the incident and immediately requested the medical service provider to submit a report upon receiving the notification in the late afternoon yesterday. Based on the provided information, the DH has conducted an inspection to the medical centre this morning to evaluate the vaccination procedures, and reminded the staff members to check regularly the suggested use-by date of the vaccines, store vaccines with different suggested use-by dates separately and handle the expired vaccines in accordance with the guideline under the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme at appropriate times. The DH has also provided advice to the medical centre to improve its vaccine management procedures and internal communications. The centre is also urged to avoid recurrence of similar incidents.

     The DH has consulted a local expert, and inquired Fosun Pharma on the safety, efficacy and quality of the vaccine. According to the local expert, no re-vaccination is needed for the affected persons but the medical centre should actively follow up on the health condition of the affected persons.

     The DH has requested the medical centre to contact the affected persons to explain the situation and follow up on their health condition. The centre should also manage any discomfort reported immediately and make notification to the DH. The DH has yet to receive any discomfort reports of the affected persons.
 
     The DH has suspended the medical centre's vaccination services. The DH will continue to follow up to see if the medical centre has implemented relevant improvement measures in order to decide if their vaccination services can be resumed.

     Meanwhile, the DH has reminded other private doctors and clinics participating in the Government's vaccination programmes again to regularly check the suggested use-by date of vaccines and handle the expired vaccines at appropriate times in accordance with the related guidelines.

Ends/Friday, March 31, 2023
Issued at HKT 18:25

NNNN