As residents face second year of horrid pandemic, new website lays out plans for our survival

^{Professor  Wallace Lau Chak-sing has been appointed to head the Vaccine Advisory Panel. Photo: HA}

How Carrie Lam’s Government plans to further protect residents from coronavirus is laid out in a relatively new website called www.coronavirus.gov.hk being updated almost daily.

Key points residents need to know:

• Three vaccines have been purchased by the Government from Sinovac Biotech, Fosun Pharma-BioNTech and AstraZeneca-Oxford University. Two of the three manufacturers are mainland firms and in the website the Government insists politics have not played a role in their selection. BioNTech allied to Fosun is a German firm that developed a vaccine with Pfizer.
• Side effects are “usually mild and temporary, eg mild fever, soreness, redness or swelling at the injection site”.  Severe adverse reaction is rare and the Government is monitoring the statistically few such occurrences overseas.
• The Government has made advance purchase arrangements with the manufacturers, so — despite vigorous competition from other countries — residents can be vaccinated as early as possible.
• Safety of the vaccines will be ensured, the Government says, because a Covid Vaccine Advisory Panel will have to approve any vaccine and it will also have to be endorsed by a drug regulatory authority outside Hong Kong.  Professor  Wallace Lau Chak-sing has been appointed to head the Vaccine Advisory Panel. He is head of the Department of Medicine at HKU and chief of medical service at Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
• Vaccines the Government is buying are developed from four technologies: inactivated viral vector, nucleic acid and protein subunit.  Government experts “took the view that each technology has its merits”.

The coronavirus.gov.hk website sets out to bust the myths, fake news and disinformation about vaccines circulating on social media. Cyberpundits are saying:

• Natural immunity is healthier and more effective than vaccine-induced immunity. The medical message is vaccines work with the body’s natural defences to build protection. By taking a vaccine you not only protect yourself, but those around you.
• Vaccines can make me sick. Official reply: You are far more likely to be seriously hurt by a vaccine-preventable disease than by a vaccine*.
• Vaccines contain toxic chemicals. The ingredients in vaccines are tested in the manufacturing process and all are passed by international authorities for safety.
• Covid vaccines are not safe because they were developed so quickly. Same answer as above.

The website is comprehensive and a far better source of information for frightened residents than social media.

* Trevor Bailey says, “Tell me about it. Nearly five months ago I got hit by the shingles virus. It’s such a nasty disease it can drive people to suicide. When the rash has cleared you’re not over it. Now you’ve got neuralgia — inflamed nerves. Four and a half months later I still haven’t fully recovered. The point is, there is a vaccine.”