HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong has ordered 15 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, split between China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd. and Pfizer/BioNTech, twice the number of its residents, the city’s leader, Carrie Lam, said on Friday.
The first batch of 1 million will arrive from China in January, while another million from Pfizer/BioNTech is due in the first quarter of next year.
The government aims for 30 million doses in total, as each person needs two injections to be fully vaccinated, and is also in talks to buy the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine. The latter is expected to arrive in the second half of next year.
Priority will be given to the elderly and other vulnerable categories, Lam said.
The former British colony has avoided the large outbreaks seen in other major cities around the world, reporting about 7,300 cases since January, with 114 deaths.
(Reporting by Sharon Tam, Writing by Marius Zaharia. Editing by Gerry Doyle)
