Chief Executive Carrie Lam today said a fourth vaccine will strengthen Hong Kong’s efforts to combat COVID-19.

Mrs Lam made the remarks after receiving her second COVID-19 jab today.

So far, Sinovac and BioNTech vaccines are provided free of charge under the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme to people aged 30 or above and in designated priority groups.

Mrs Lam said: “Both vaccines are authorised, which means that they are safe, they are of quality and they are effective.”

On top of the two vaccines, another vaccine developed by AstraZeneca in collaboration with Oxford University is expected to arrive in Hong Kong later.

“As far as the advance purchase of a fourth vaccine for use by the Hong Kong community, that is part of the plan that has been approved by the Legislative Council when we obtained funding for the government vaccination programme. Firstly, at that stage we did not know the effectiveness of each vaccine. So for security, we have to buy more for the safety of Hong Kong people.

“Secondly, up to this moment, no one could be very authoritative about the validity of the effectiveness - that is how long the vaccine could protect the individual and the community - and that’s why we need to go for four different vaccines, each with a volume of 7.5 million doses.

“I would suggest that members of the public should come forward to receive the vaccination and we will continue to supply the needed vaccines for the community.”

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