The Secretary for Health has authorised the Comirnaty Original/Omicron BA.4-5 bivalent vaccine by Fosun Pharma/BioNTech for emergency use in Hong Kong, the Government announced today.

According to the information provided by the drug manufacturer, the first batch of the Comirnaty bivalent vaccine to be supplied to Hong Kong is expected to arrive from Germany at the end of this month.

The Government will provide the relevant vaccine to the public as soon as possible after receiving shipment of the relevant vaccine and completing the necessary quality assurance procedures. Details will be announced later.

In its recommendations submitted to the Secretary for Health, the Advisory Panel on COVID-19 Vaccines considers that, under the current epidemic situation, the benefits of authorising the use of the Comirnaty bivalent vaccine as a booster for protecting against COVID-19 outweigh the risks.

Having regard to the panel’s advice and having considered the threat to public health posed by COVID-19, the Secretary for Health authorised the emergency use of the relevant Comirnaty bivalent vaccine in Hong Kong.

To ensure that the relevant vaccine continues to fulfil the requirements of safety, efficacy and quality, the health chief has attached conditions to the aforesaid authorisation.

The applicant is required to keep providing the latest clinical data on the vaccine, safety update reports, as well as quality certification documents by the drug manufacturer for each batch of vaccines.

Following the earlier advice of the two scientific committees under the Centre for Health Protection and the Chief Executive’s expert advisory panel, the Government will arrange for the above-mentioned Comirnaty bivalent vaccine to be used as an alternative to the fourth dose in accordance with the current vaccination schedule.

Both the Sinovac and Comirnaty vaccines currently provided can continue to be used as the fourth dose.