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Hong Kong’s well being secretary says she is assured that each one its residents might be supplied Covid vaccines by the tip of 2021.
The town has signed agreements to acquire greater than sufficient doses for its inhabitants, Hong Kong’s Secretary for Meals and Well being, Sophia Chan, informed CNBC’s “Capital Connection” on Tuesday.
In response to a query on when Hong Kong may attain herd immunity, Chan mentioned authorities are nonetheless gauging the response to vaccinations in addition to watching the supply procurement schedule. She didn’t present a timeline for when the town may hit herd immunity, a state of affairs the place sufficient individuals within the inhabitants have develop into proof against a illness, in order that it successfully stops spreading rampantly.
“We’re fairly assured that by the tip of the 12 months … everyone in Hong Kong might be offered a chance to get (their) vaccination,” she mentioned.
Chan added that greater than 22 million doses of Covid vaccines have already been ordered.
Hong Kong has a inhabitants of round 7.5 million, and commenced rolling out its vaccination drive in late February. It has signed offers to purchase vaccines from China’s Sinovac Biotech, Europe’s Oxford-AstraZeneca, in addition to one equipped by Shanghai-based Fosun Pharma and its companion, German drugmaker BioNTech.
Clients purchase recent greens from a avenue market store in Hong Kong on March 8, 2021.
Anthony Wallace | AFP | Getty Photos
Chan mentioned individuals appear “fairly enthusiastic” about being vaccinated to date, however acknowledged that they’re nonetheless rolling it out in phases and it isn’t but accessible to the entire inhabitants.
She additionally mentioned specialists are reviewing the explanations behind adversarial occasions together with no less than two deaths following vaccination.
“Our scientific committee has initially offered the knowledge that it has nothing to do with the vaccination. That’s, they don’t discover any direct causality with the vaccination,” she mentioned.
Individually, Chan weighed in on when Hong Kong would loosen its coronavirus restrictions, saying the town’s authorities might be “very cautious” about doing so.
She mentioned the state of affairs stays “a bit of bit unstable” as a result of unlinked instances are nonetheless being reported regardless of new instances being low.
“We need to actually comprise … and reduce the transmission chains in a neighborhood as a result of we don’t want any clusters to come back out,” she mentioned.
On Tuesday, Hong Kong reported 21 new instances, bringing the entire variety of infections to no less than 11,121, based on the well being authority there.
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