Hong Kong people will be given corona vaccine from China only, Carrie says: Is she playing politics with our health?

Hong Kong people will be offered coronavirus vaccine or vaccines solely from China, according to Carrie Lam in her policy address. She made no mention of buying us vaccines from the front-runners, BioNTech-Pfizer, Oxford University-AstraZeneca or Moderna. Is Ms Lam playing politics with our health? Surely the CEO and her health advisers should be trying to get us the best available vaccine regardless of where it comes from.

Chinese institutions backed by the Government are developing vaccines while “prioritising rapid evidence of efficacy over safety”, according to Wikipedia.

Laymen should not jump to conclusions, so HONG KONG BUZZ will ask experts in our universities and seek comment from the Health Bureau. We will also copy this story to Ms Lam’s office. Hong Kong people have a right to know what is being done in their name amid a pandemic causing death, fear, suffering and economic disruption.

Meanwhile, here is a summary of what’s going on with development of Chinese-made vaccines. All information is distilled from Wikipedia.

AD5-NCOV

This vaccine is being developed by CanSinoBIO, Beijing Institute of Biotechnology of the Academy of Military Medical Sciences. It is described as a “recombinant adenovirus type 5 vector”. The vaccine is being tested on 40,000 people in five countries with randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials.

The adverse effects are said to be moderate over seven days with 74 per cent suffering fever, pain and fatigue. Efficacy is reported to be neutralising antibody and T-cell response.

^{Chinese scientists are investing a lot of effort in vaccine development with funding from the Government}

UNNAMED

This is a vaccine made by Sinopharm and Institutes of Biological Products in Beijing and Wuhan. It is described as “inactivated SARS-Cov2 (vero cells)”. Testing is now going on with the help of 48,000 people in five countries. Trials are randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled.

Adverse effects are reported to be mild and limited with fever and pain at the injection site. Efficacy: neutralising antibodies after 14 days and two injections.

CORONAVAC

Under development by Sinovac, it’s “inactivated SARS-CoV-2”. Thirty-three thousand people are involved in testing in six countries, the same sort of trials as above.

Adverse effects said to be mild with pain at the injection site. Efficacy: Immunogencity of 98 per cent with high doses over 14 days.

Perhaps it is instructive to look  too at what the front-running institutions in Europe and the U.S. are working on in developing a vaccine, although it appears Ms Lam and her officials are not going to give HK people the option of taking any one of these:

BNT162B2

This is the one being tested by BionNTech, run by a Turkish doctor-scientist and his wife, Pfizer and Fosun Pharma. It is described as “mRNA”, which means it doesn’t give you the disease in a small dose, but issues instructions to your body to fight the disease.

Adverse effects: moderate with pain at injection site, fatigue, headache, chills, muscle and joint pain and fever. Efficacy: Strong RBD binding igC and neutralising antibody response after seven days.

AZD1222

This one is by Oxford University and AstraZeneca. It is described as “modified chimpanzee adenovirus vector”. Adverse effects: pain, headaches, fever, chills, muscle aches and malaise for 60 per cent of test volunteers. Efficacy: spike-specific and neutralising antibodies.

MRNA-1273

A vaccine being  developed by Moderna, NIAID and Barda, described as “lipid nano particle dispersion containing mRNA”. Adverse effects: Fever, pain, fatigue and muscle ache. Efficacy: Neutralising antibody response after two doses.