Wuhan coronavirus outbreak — worries as it spread to HK & beyond
Mar 14, 2021, 12:27 pm
#676
Suspended
Join Date: Feb 2009
Programs: DL, UA, AA, VS
Posts: 5,226
China is allowing vaccine passports for people going from HK to the mainland, but only if they've taken Chinese vaccines.
https://viewfromthewing.com/china-in...-are-eligible/
So people in HK are being nudged to take the Chinese vaccines?
https://viewfromthewing.com/china-in...-are-eligible/
So people in HK are being nudged to take the Chinese vaccines?
Mar 14, 2021, 5:15 pm
#677
Ambassador, Hong Kong and Macau
Join Date: May 2009
Location: HKG
Programs: Non-top tier Asia Miles member
Posts: 19,801
China is allowing vaccine passports for people going from HK to the mainland, but only if they've taken Chinese vaccines.
https://viewfromthewing.com/china-in...-are-eligible/
So people in HK are being nudged to take the Chinese vaccines?
https://viewfromthewing.com/china-in...-are-eligible/
So people in HK are being nudged to take the Chinese vaccines?
That's the point https://www.economist.com/china/2021...r-than-planned
Mar 14, 2021, 11:56 pm
#679
Ambassador, Hong Kong and Macau
Join Date: May 2009
Location: HKG
Programs: Non-top tier Asia Miles member
Posts: 19,801
Thailand will accept Sinovac. Sinovac has EUA there.
Australia probably won’t - not TGA.
Japan was said to be pretty irked when IOC tried to accept Sinovac for them https://hk.appledaily.com/sports/202...MFHX5OWK5R3VQ/ ?
Australia probably won’t - not TGA.
Japan was said to be pretty irked when IOC tried to accept Sinovac for them https://hk.appledaily.com/sports/202...MFHX5OWK5R3VQ/ ?
Mar 15, 2021, 12:00 am
#681
Ambassador, Hong Kong and Macau
Join Date: May 2009
Location: HKG
Programs: Non-top tier Asia Miles member
Posts: 19,801
Not TGA-approved even for EUA. Our working assumption is we must acquire Biontech or Astrozeneca to avoid Australian quarantine (when exemptions are announced).
Apr 11, 2021, 10:15 am
#682
Suspended
Join Date: Feb 2009
Programs: DL, UA, AA, VS
Posts: 5,226
In a development which should surprise nobody, a top Chinese public health official admits the Chinese vaccines are not good:
Read in ABC News: https://apple.news/AINO8wd3yR-avI3yc48a65g
What are these alternatives they're considering? One is their own mRNA vaccines:
Probably likely that they knew their vaccines were crap, which is why they shipped a lot abroad and really hasn't pushed up vaccination of their own population.
In a rare admission of the weakness of Chinese coronavirus vaccines, the country's top disease control official says their effectiveness is low and the government is considering mixing them to get a boost.
Chinese vaccines “don’t have very high protection rates,” said the director of the China Centers for Disease Control, Gao Fu, at a conference Saturday in the southwestern city of Chengdu.
Beijing has distributed hundreds of millions of doses abroad while trying to promote doubt about the effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine made using the previously experimental messenger RNA, or mRNA, process.
“It’s now under formal consideration whether we should use different vaccines from different technical lines for the immunization process,” Gao said
Chinese vaccines “don’t have very high protection rates,” said the director of the China Centers for Disease Control, Gao Fu, at a conference Saturday in the southwestern city of Chengdu.
Beijing has distributed hundreds of millions of doses abroad while trying to promote doubt about the effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine made using the previously experimental messenger RNA, or mRNA, process.
“It’s now under formal consideration whether we should use different vaccines from different technical lines for the immunization process,” Gao said
What are these alternatives they're considering? One is their own mRNA vaccines:
Gao gave no details of possible changes in strategy but cited mRNA as a possibility.
“Everyone should consider the benefits mRNA vaccines can bring for humanity,” Gao said. “We must follow it carefully and not ignore it just because we already have several types of vaccines already.”
Gao previously questioned the safety of mRNA vaccines. He was quoted by the official Xinhua News Agency as saying in December he couldn’t rule out negative side effects because they were being used for the first time on healthy people.
Chinese state media and popular health and science blogs also have questioned the safety and effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
As of April 2, some 34 million people in China have received both of the two doses required for Chinese vaccines and about 65 million received one, according to Gao.
“Everyone should consider the benefits mRNA vaccines can bring for humanity,” Gao said. “We must follow it carefully and not ignore it just because we already have several types of vaccines already.”
Gao previously questioned the safety of mRNA vaccines. He was quoted by the official Xinhua News Agency as saying in December he couldn’t rule out negative side effects because they were being used for the first time on healthy people.
Chinese state media and popular health and science blogs also have questioned the safety and effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
As of April 2, some 34 million people in China have received both of the two doses required for Chinese vaccines and about 65 million received one, according to Gao.
May 25, 2021, 11:02 am
#683
Suspended
Join Date: Feb 2009
Programs: DL, UA, AA, VS
Posts: 5,226
HK may be in danger of not using its current supplies of Pfizer vaccine:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...lions-of-doses
The city of 7.5 million people has bought enough doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and China’s Sinovac, to vaccinate its entire population, but so far only 2.1 million have been administered since the vaccination programme launched in late February.
Thomas Tsang, a former controller of the Centre for Health Protection and member of the government’s vaccine taskforce warned there was only a three-month window to use the first batch of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines on hand in the city, which must be stored at low temperatures and used within six months.
“They cannot be used after the expiry date and the community vaccination centres for BioNTech will, according to present plans, cease operating after September,” Tsang told RTHK.
“The whole world is scrambling for vaccines and it is just not right that we can buy a vaccine overnight and we just have it. What we have is probably all we have for the rest of the year.”
Thomas Tsang, a former controller of the Centre for Health Protection and member of the government’s vaccine taskforce warned there was only a three-month window to use the first batch of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines on hand in the city, which must be stored at low temperatures and used within six months.
“They cannot be used after the expiry date and the community vaccination centres for BioNTech will, according to present plans, cease operating after September,” Tsang told RTHK.
“The whole world is scrambling for vaccines and it is just not right that we can buy a vaccine overnight and we just have it. What we have is probably all we have for the rest of the year.”
May 31, 2021, 9:46 am
#684
Ambassador, Hong Kong and Macau
Join Date: May 2009
Location: HKG
Programs: Non-top tier Asia Miles member
Posts: 19,801
HK and Singapore governments mooting nuisance levels of testing to encourage uptake https://news.now.com/home/local/play...24&refer=Share
May 31, 2021, 1:53 pm
#685
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: LHR, DFW, J Cabins WorldWide
Programs: AA EXP, UA GS, FB Gold, AS MVPG, MR Titanium, VS Gold
Posts: 954
HK and Singapore governments mooting nuisance levels of testing to encourage uptake https://news.now.com/home/local/play...24&refer=Share
May 31, 2021, 4:40 pm
#686
Ambassador, Hong Kong and Macau
Join Date: May 2009
Location: HKG
Programs: Non-top tier Asia Miles member
Posts: 19,801
Not specifically, but high uptake has always been cited as a precondition to dropping quarantine.
Jun 1, 2021, 8:47 am
#688
Ambassador, Hong Kong and Macau
Join Date: May 2009
Location: HKG
Programs: Non-top tier Asia Miles member
Posts: 19,801
I feel sorry about the South Africans, Brazilians, Indians and the Brits, who had variants named after them.
B-117 and B-617 never really caught on (I wonder will the Chinese delegation to WHO then further object because they can be confused for Hong Kong and Macau aircraft registrations...) (yeah, see how I brought this side discussion back to this forum's topic...)
B-117 and B-617 never really caught on (I wonder will the Chinese delegation to WHO then further object because they can be confused for Hong Kong and Macau aircraft registrations...) (yeah, see how I brought this side discussion back to this forum's topic...)
Jun 19, 2021, 11:29 am
#689
Suspended
Join Date: Feb 2009
Programs: DL, UA, AA, VS
Posts: 5,226
University of Hong Kong study finds much higher antibody levels in people who get the Pfizer vaccine vs. the Sinovac vaccine. Should not be a surprise to anyone who's been paying a little attention, there are reports of infection outbreaks in countries where there was a high percentage or even majority of vaccinations with Sinovac or Sinopharm.
Yet we have this data:
Read in South China Morning Post: https://apple.news/AjxnMbEe3RPq3JoKXVZp-2Q
Why would HKers take Sinovac if there is a chance to get the Pfizer? PRC and CCP loyalists, like Carrie Lam who chose Sinovac? Or maybe she only did it for show and she got the good vaccine.
A lot of developing world citizens don't have a choice, they have to get these cheap or free but inferior vaccines. China has said they've given over 1 billion shots of their vaccines. But HK should exercise their choice while they can. Mainland people are probably getting these inferior vaccines and they're probably going to have to get better ones down the line.
Yet we have this data:
The BioNTech vaccine has been reported to have a 95 per cent efficacy rate, while the mark for Sinovac is 50.7 per cent.
Hong Kong has administered more than 3 million doses of vaccines to residents since late February, comprising 1.7 million BioNTech jabs and 1.3 million Sinovac shots.
Hong Kong has administered more than 3 million doses of vaccines to residents since late February, comprising 1.7 million BioNTech jabs and 1.3 million Sinovac shots.
Why would HKers take Sinovac if there is a chance to get the Pfizer? PRC and CCP loyalists, like Carrie Lam who chose Sinovac? Or maybe she only did it for show and she got the good vaccine.
A lot of developing world citizens don't have a choice, they have to get these cheap or free but inferior vaccines. China has said they've given over 1 billion shots of their vaccines. But HK should exercise their choice while they can. Mainland people are probably getting these inferior vaccines and they're probably going to have to get better ones down the line.
Jun 19, 2021, 5:20 pm
#690
Ambassador, Hong Kong and Macau
Join Date: May 2009
Location: HKG
Programs: Non-top tier Asia Miles member
Posts: 19,801
Outright blue: Sinovac all the way
Expat or immigrated: Biontech
Yellow and just want to screw Government/delay Mainland border reopening: don't take
Singapore introduced Sinovac as well yesterday (they already have Biontech and Moderna) https://news.now.com/home/internatio...?newsId=439176