Corona change of course: Chinese receive Biontech boosters in Hong Kong

Enlarge image

Hong Kong: Scene of what is believed to be millions of omicron infections

Photo: PHILIPPE LOPEZ/ AFP

Apparently, the Chinese will soon be able to get a boost in Hong Kong with Biontech's vaccine against Covid-19.

Biontech partner Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical said users of its health app in China could register there for a second vaccination with the mRNA vaccine.

The prerequisite is that they are over 18 years old and have already completed the first vaccination against the corona virus.

Shortly before Christmas, Biontech and Fosun Pharma received approval in Hong Kong for their vaccine adapted to the Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5 as a booster for over 12-year-olds.

Biontech could not initially be reached for comment.

China has so far insisted on its own inactivated vaccine for its citizens and has recently only approved the more modern Biontech vaccine for Germans in China.

A first delivery arrived at the German embassy in Beijing last week.

Violent wave of infection

The country is facing a violent wave of infections after suddenly abandoning its restrictive zero-Covid policy.

China's own vaccines are apparently largely ineffective with the omicron variant, so that people become infected as if they were not vaccinated.

China's National Health Commission considers an R value of a factor of 16 to be likely.

This means that every infected person infects up to 16 other people during the course of their illness.

Such an infectious course has not yet been observed in Europe or the United States.

mamk/Reuters