The coronavirus “gallops” in China: They rush to make mRNA vaccines in Hong Kong

Mainland Chinese are rushing to Hong Kong to get mRNA vaccines against COVID-19, which are not available in their own regions, as China faces a wave of infections that puts great strain on its health system.

A private hospital in Hong Kong welcomed its first clients from mainland China today, just five days after the country reopened its borders for the first time in three years, allowing travel without mandatory quarantine.

Yoyo Liang, 36, from Beijing, was among the first to rush to Virtus Medical Center where she paid HK$1,888 ($241) for her first BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19.

Liang has received three doses of China’s Sinovac vaccine in the past two years but said she received the Pfizer-BioNtech bivalent booster to better protect herself against the virus.

“I was tempted to get the vaccine because of the opening of the borders. There is no bivalent vaccine available in mainland China,” he explained after getting the shot.

Virtus, which has been contacted by more than 300 people with questions about the vaccines so far, expects more mainland Chinese customers to come to Hong Kong in the coming weeks and months, the hospital’s head of medical services, Samuel Kwok, told reporters. . “The demand is increasing but we understand that there are many who have been infected recently… they cannot do a booster immediately, so they have to wait at least three months,” he said.

RES-EMP

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