HONG KONG (Reuters) – The Hong Kong government said a preliminary investigation into its coronavirus vaccine by German bioentech and Foson Industrial Industrial did not show any “clear systemic factors” during packaging after the city and surrounding Macau suspended vaccine use this week.
Officials on Wednesday used the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Bioentech, citing defective packaging, causing confusion at inoculation centers across the city.
The suspension has led to a decline in China’s confidence in the Synovac vaccine due to Asia’s financial hub and fears of adverse reactions.
In a statement released late Saturday night, the city government said the results of the investigation did not deny that the situation was “due to environmental conditions during the long-term transportation process.”
It was not related to the cold-chain and logistical management of the vaccine and random testing of the intact vials given to Hong Kong did not raise any issue of leakage.
Both Fosun and Bioentech considered the vaccines not a safety risk and those who received them “need not worry,” the government said.
The rest of the investigation will focus on “ensuring the integrity of the internal properties of the vaccine-related bat chess and that the bat chess is safe to use”.
The government said it would work with Fosun and Bioentech to complete the investigation within a week and allow people to resume providing the vaccine.
The city began vaccinating residents with doses from Sinowack in February and began offering one developed by Bioentech in March.
The Binotech vaccine is distributed in Hong Kong and Macau through a partnership with Fosun Pharma of China, while Binotech partners with Pfizer in markets outside major China.
(Reporting by Farah Master; Editing by Daniel Vassis)
