Only BioNTech works against all variants: experts

Infectious diseases experts warned on Thursday that, of the three coronavirus vaccines Hong Kong has procured so far, only one – BioNTech – has proven to be effective against variants of the virus that have been emerging around the globe, and the government may need to reconsider purchasing the AstraZeneca product.

Two expert committees under the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) concluded after reviewing publicly-available data that the BioNTech product is effective against the UK and Brazil variants of the coronavirus.

Professor Lau Yu-lung said while the vaccine still works against the South African variant, it is somewhat less effective.

However, he said the AstraZeneca vaccine – which isn’t expected to arrive in Hong Kong until the latter part of the year – “basically doesn’t work” against the South African variant.

As for Sinovac, Lau said there simply isn’t enough information available yet to draw any conclusion on its efficacy in protecting people against any of the mutated strains.

However, he said he understands there have been large-scale studies undertaken in Brazil, Turkey and Indonesia, and the experts are hoping to receive new data soon.

Lau said this raises the question of whether the government should go ahead with its planned procurement of AstraZeneca.

“We still have some time to discuss whether to buy the AstraZeneca product, and if not, what we should procure instead,” he said at a press conference.

He says the authorities should have three to four months to make such a decision.

Hong Kong has seen 93 Covid-19 infections involving the variant strains since December – all of which were imported into the city.

Genetic analysis has been completed for 50 of these cases, and the results show the majority, 37, were of the UK variant, while there were only five of the Brazil strain, and eight of the South African one.

Lau said Hong Kong’s stringent quarantine measures have helped prevent any of these strains from getting out into the general community so far, but he warned that in 10 percent of the cases, the infections were only identified after two weeks, showing that the SAR’s mandatory 21-day quarantine period for incoming travellers is needed.

“If the [quarantine period] was just 14 days, the ten percent would have been spread to the community,” he said, also warning that the variants appear to be more infectious, and result in more severe illness.

As for when it would be feasible to ease back coronavirus restrictions, CHP controller Ronald Lam said this can only be considered if there is a higher vaccination take-up rate of at least 50 percent.