Photo: Xinhua

Hong Kong might have to throw away over 1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines due to impending expiration if the public's willingness to be vaccinated does not increase, the city government has said. Experts suggested that the government open up vaccinations for more groups or mandate vaccinations in some industries.

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government said on Tuesday in a press release that the city may have to throw away large amounts of unused vaccines in August, calling for citizens to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

According to official data, as of Monday there were 1.05 million unused doses of Sinovac vaccine and 840,000 of Pfizer-BioNTech. As the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine must be stored at an ultra-low temperature and has a relatively short validity period, Hong Kong's Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines will expire in mid-August. 

"If the quantity of uptake falls short of the quantity in storage, some of the precious vaccines will be wasted," the Hong Kong government said in the press release, noting that the public's demand for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has gradually become sluggish. 

"As it takes time for the production of vaccines, quality control, and transport and logistics... even if demand for vaccines by members of the public suddenly surges later on, it would not be possible for the relevant vaccines to be replenished within this year," the government said.

According to official data, the HKSAR government has obtained and authorized 15 million vaccine doses produced by Sinovac and BioNTech&Pfizer. The quantity is sufficient for vaccination of the entire 7.5 million people in the city.

On Tuesday, the HKSAR government announced that the COVID-19 vaccination pool will expand, and it is expected to cover residents of the Chinese mainland who hold Exit-Entry Permits and stay in Hong Kong for a certain period of time. It is also preparing to vaccinate refugees.

It is expected that the Hong Kong government will call on more groups to get vaccinated, including more foreigners with short-term visas or visitors from the Chinese mainland, and further open up the age group for vaccinations, Tao Lina, a Shanghai-based expert on vaccines, told the Global Times on Wednesday. 

As of Monday, over 2.17 million doses of vaccines had been administered in Hong Kong (940,000 doses of the Sinovac vaccine and 1.23 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine). More than 1.26 million had received their first doses, accounting for 19.3 percent of the population aged 16 or above.

The current public attitude toward vaccination in Hong Kong is not active, but the attitude doesn't vary by the type of vaccine, whether it is Sinovac or BioNTech, Tang Fei, a Hong Kong-based member of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies, told the Global Times on Wednesday. 

The HKSAR government can appropriately make some mandatory requirements, such as telling people in some industries they must be vaccinated to work, Tang said, because the news of wasted vaccines may not change people's attitude.

Tang said that even if the vaccines are eventually discarded, the supply of vaccines in Hong Kong will not be as tight as in neighboring countries and regions, as the Chinese central government holds the greatest patience to assist the HKSAR.

There are currently about 80 days until about 800,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine expire, with around 25,000 doses administered daily (including Pfizer-BioNTech and Sinova) in Hong Kong in the past seven days.