Authorities in Hong Kong and Macao have suspended the rollout of BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine citing a packaging defect found in their first batch of doses.
Both governments said in statements Wednesday they had received a letter from BioNTech and its Chinese partner, Fosun Pharma, indicating an issue with the seal on individual vials in batch number 210102.
According to government figures, as of Tuesday, 150,200 people in Hong Kong had received their first dose of the BioNTech vaccine, which outside of China is partnered with US pharmaceutical company Pfizer.
Although both Fosun and BioNTech “have not found any reason to believe that product safety is at risk,” the Hong Kong government said it was suspending vaccinations involving batch 210102, and halting plans to administer a second batch pending an investigation.
“These are preventive measures to continuously ensure the safety of the vaccination program,” read the statement.
Prior to halting the BioNTech rollout, the city had offered residents a choice of two vaccines, BioNTech and Chinese produced Sinovac. Now those who wish to get vaccinated can either wait for the BioNTech issue to be resolved or go with Sinovac.
